FESPACO 2027 Sets 30th Edition Calendar as Market Reform Moves to the Fore

On Tuesday, February 24, 2026, the Agence burkinabé de la cinématographie et de l'audiovisuel (ABCA) convened a press conference, broadcast online, to launch the 30th edition, an institutional milestone of FESPACO. The next installment of the Pan-African Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso will take place from February 27 to March 6, 2027.

ABCA Director General Alex Moussa Sawadogo used the occasion to present a detailed review of the 2025 edition, held from February 22 to March 1, 2025. For the uninitiated, the festival occurs every two years. The 2025 event was organized under the theme "Cinémas d'Afrique et identité culturelle" ("African Cinemas and Cultural Identity") with academic discussions hosted at the Centre de Développement Cinématographique (CDC) in Ouagadougou.

Of note: Sawadogo announced that FESPACO will begin publishing a scientific volume compiling research papers every two editions, with the next thematic publication planned for 2029.

According to figures shared at the February 24 press conference, 48 Burkinabé films were programmed in 2025, compared to 28 in 2023. A total of 235 films were selected overall, generating 625 screenings, up from 401 in 2023. Professional and public activities reached 700, compared to 503 two years earlier. The number of invited guests rose to 2,100 from 1,978 in 2023, and approximately 2,000 journalists were accredited in 2025. Prize money totaled 217 million CFA francs (around $400,000), compared to 218 million CFA francs in 2023.

The 2025 edition also introduced online ticketing for the first time, allowing centralized reporting of admissions. The "Semaine de la Critique" was formally integrated as a section, with selection delegated to the national association of film critics. The Public Prize (Prix du Public) was established as an official FESPACO award backed by RTB, Burkina Faso's national broadcaster.

Sawadogo pointed to the success of Burkinabé filmmaker Dani Kouyaté and his film "Katanga, la danse des scorpions," an adaptation of Shakespeare's Macbeth, which took home the Etalon d'Or de Yennenga in 2025, the host country's first top prize win in 28 years. He linked the result to sustained public investment in the national film sector.

On the industry side, Sawadogo acknowledged that distribution and sales companies were underrepresented at the 2025 festival and said that strengthening the economic dimension of FESPACO will be a priority for 2027, including expanding the Marché international du cinéma et de l'audiovisuel africain (FESPACO's professional market platform, MICA) and working more closely with DERPA, Burkina Faso's national audiovisual regulation authority responsible for overseeing media and broadcast policy.

The market area in 2025 recorded 7,460 visitors and 90 occupied stands out of 100 available. The Yennenga Coproduction platform awarded between 5 and 5.5 million CFA francs (around $9,000 to $10,000) per supported project.

Outdoor screenings under the "FESPACO hors-les-murs" initiative expanded to rural areas for a second edition in 2025, with plans to extend to more regional cities in 2027, as part of its decentralization strategy.

Submissions for 2027 will be conducted online via Faso Arzeka, Burkina Faso's national digital platform for film submissions. Eligible works must have been completed after FESPACO 2025. The submission fee is set at 32,798 CFA francs (around $55). Sawadogo defended the introduction of paid submissions, stating that submission fees were implemented as a financial contribution model to help support the festival's operating costs.

The 2027 selection committee consists of twelve members — six women and six men. They are Keith Shiri (Zimbabwe), Guy Désiré Yaméogo (Burkina Faso), Habibou Zoungrana (Burkina Faso), Jacqueline Nsiah (Ghana), Dja Mambu (Democratic Republic of Congo), Pedro Pimenta (Mozambique), Lina Chabanne (Tunisia), Hicham Falah (Morocco), Janaina Oliveira (Brazil), Mohamed Said Ouma (Comoros), Enoka Julien Ayemba (Cameroon), and Farah Clementine Dramane-Issifou (Benin).

Broader Context

In an April 2025 post-mortem of the last edition with Sidwaya, Burkina Faso's state newspaper, Sawadogo — who became Director of the newly-launched FESPACO governing body, Agence Burkinabé de la cinématographie et de l'audiovisuel (ABCA) at the same time — provided a detailed account of how the next phase of the festival and wider screen sector engagement will be governed.

He presented FESPACO 2025 as evidence that a state-funded, centrally managed festival can operate at continental scale while expanding, defending public control over funding and oversight, linking the Etalon d'Or awarded to locally-produced "Katanga" to sustained government investment, and consolidating FESPACO, the national film school, and related institutions under ABCA.

With a two-year interval between the 2025 and 2027 editions, Sawadogo rolls out the administrative and political structure that will shape future FESPACOs, starting with what should be a special 30th anniversary milestone edition next February, even as questions about film archives, digital strategy, diaspora engagement, and distribution beyond Burkina Faso linger.