The 29th edition of the Pan-African Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou (FESPACO) is underway in Burkina Faso, with a collaboration between the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the festival organisers. As part of this partnership, WHO will be screening a selection of short films at the FESPACO.
Two African films, Trop Plein from Senegal’s filmmaker Arame Sall, and Deep Silence from Benin’s director Beaucéjour Akodjenou, will be screened at the FESPACO, through the WHO’s Health for All Film Festival (HAFF).
About the Films and Filmmakers
Trop Plein by Arame Sall
Arame Sall is a Senegalese film director. Her film, Trop Plein, is a fiction film that tells the story of the consequences of sexual violence and its long-term effects on a woman’s mental health, while she experiences a panic attack at work.
Deep Silence by Beaucéjour Akodjenou
Beaucéjour Akodjenou is a Beninese film director and screenwriter. His film, Deep Silence, is also a fiction film that explores the psychological effects of COVID-19 protective measures.
In addition to these African films, the WHO screening will also feature two international productions. The Double Burden of Malnutrition, a video report by Magali Rochat from Switzerland, which sheds light on the issue of undernutrition and obesity in Africa, and Theory versus Reality, an audiovisual testimony by Doctor Nanethida Nouanesengsy from Tahiti, which shows the importance of cultural and social determinants of health in medical consultations.
About the Health for All Film Festival (HAFF)
The screening is set to take place on Wednesday, February 26, from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. at the Burkinabe Shippers’ Council (CBC) in Ouagadougou, as part of the Health for All Film Festival (HAFF), a WHO initiative launched in 2020.
Speaking about the initiative, the WHO said: “The Health for All Film Festival (HAFF) created in 2020 by the WHO aims to stimulate the use of film to improve health, and there is a great synergy with FESPACO since we have received in five editions many short films showing various cultural identities in Africa. These African stories on health also allow us to talk about the impact of audiovisual language on individual or collective behaviors, and the public’s perceptions of certain very real situations.”
The jury team for the HAFF include Adelle Onyango, Alfonso Herrera, Angélique Kidjo, Sharon Stone, Nandita Das, Yusra Mardini, Mário Macilau, Apolline Traoré, Emilia Clarke, Wagner Moura, Richard Curtis, Mia Maestro, Ricky Kej, and Eugenio Derbez.
They advise WHO’s Director-General, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, on selecting the winners and potential Special Mentions for a few films.
