, after receiving a certificate of appreciation from the
Director-General of UNESCO, as a guest of honour at the 26th edition of FESPACO The
film festival was founded as the Festival Panafricain du Cinéma et de la Télévision de Ouagadougou in 1969, at the
Carthage Film Festival in
Tunis. A committee at the festival involving several of the same filmmakers also laid the groundwork for the foundation of the
Pan African Federation of Filmmakers (FEPACI), which was formally established in 1970.
Alimata Salambere, the cultural minister of Burkina Faso from 1987 to 1991, was one of the founders of the festival. At its third edition in 1972, the festival was named FESPACO for short, keeping its full title as "Festival Panafricain du Cinéma et de la Télévision de Ouagadougou". FESPACO was recognized formally as an institution by governmental decree on 7 January 1972. Its award ceremony and base of operations is Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, where the annual awards ceremony is also held. In 1972, the
Étalon de Yennenga award was established in honor of
Princess Yennenga, the mythical founder of the
Mossi empire, to reward the feature fictional or documentary film most representative of African identity. The first winner of the best film award was
Le Wazzou Polygame by
Oumarou Ganda of Niger. Since then, the best film award has been won by directors from Cameroon, Morocco, Mali, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Algeria, Burkina Faso, Ghana and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Evolution from 1969 to 2022 The festival has evolved into an internationally recognized and respected event, regarded as the main event of
African Cinema. The theme for the 2007 festival was "the actor in the creation and promotion of African films". As the festival became more prominent, its budget and sponsors increased; the donor countries include Burkina Faso, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Netherlands, Sweden, Republic of China. Donor organizations include AIF (ACCT),
PNUD,
UNESCO,
UNICEF,
European Union and
Africalia. Due to its international recognition, FESPACO has enabled African filmmakers to show their talents and sell their products in the international market, as well as to promote development of African products and technicians in the industry′. The delegate generals of FESPACO since 1972 have been Louis Tombiano, from 1972 to 1982; Alimata Salembere, from 1982 to 1984;
Filippe Savadogo, from 1984 to 1996, Baba Hama, from 1996 to 2008, Michel Ouedraogo, from 2008 to 2014, Ardiouma Soma, from 2014 to 2020, and Alex Moussa Sawadogo, from 2020 until present day. The new headquarters of FESPACO (previously located in the premises of the Economic and Social Council near the Roundabout of the United States) and work on which began in 1994, was inaugurated in 2005 not far from the African Cinematheque. The ransacking of the
French Institute during demonstrations following the
coup d'état of September 2022 deprived the festival of two screening rooms in the city centre. ==Main initiatives==