Tunisia / 2000 / 60mins / Documentary / French

Between 1983 and 1987, Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso and the home city of FESPACO, one of the most important Pan-African film festivals in the world, was the scene of an exciting cinema utopia. With the support of the young president Thomas Sankara, the festival became a symbol of the cultural renaissance of a whole continent. The assassination of Sankara stifled the hopes of millions of young Africans, but the dynamism of FESPACO and African cinema did not stop.

Mohamed Challouf

Mohamed Challouf was born in Tunisia in 1957. In 1983, with some help from a group of friends, he created the Giornate del Cinema Africano di Perugia and attended to its artistic direction until 1994. In 1992, he realized his first photographic book called I Figli del Sud and organized the exhibition, dedicated to his childhood in Africa (exhibited in more than 30 African and European cities). He was the co-author and producer of Italiani dell’altra Riva, a documentary about the memory of the Italian community in Tunisia and produced the film, Anastasia di Bizerta, that was selected for the Venice Cinematographic Art Exhibition. In 2000, he produced and directed the documentary, Ouaga, capitale du cinéma, selected for the Venice Cinema Exhibition in the same year and broadcast in Italy by Tele +. Since 2005 he has organized Hergla’s Film Encounter (Tunisia), a new festival dedicated to African and Mediterranean short and documentary films. Learn More