African Business, 29/02/2024
The red carpet is unrolled and beaming guests, dressed to the nines, are strolling up and down, smiling at the cameras and greeting fans. This scene is not the Oscars, but the 32nd Pan African Film & Arts Festival – held in Los Angeles, California from 6 to 19 February.
Established in 1992, the festival was founded by Danny Glover, the late Ja’Net DuBois, and Ayuko Babu to be the international beacon for the diaspora arts community, preserve the cinematic creativity of pan-African culture and tell its untold stories. Held annually, it brings together the biggest names in the world of African cinema for a celebration of talent and success. Yet the red carpet in 2024 bears one remarkable difference to 1992, and to the festival’s formative years in the 1990s and early 2000s, when the process of creating films from behind the camera was a singularly male-dominated space.
Today, strolling among actors and actresses are talented female directors from across the continent, whose work will be screened to audiences during the week-long festival. One filmmaker and producer whose star power is on an extraordinary upward trajectory is Apolline Traoré (pictured above). Her film Sira, which came out in 2023, explores the story of a young woman who is abducted alongside her family by Islamist terrorists while travelling to her wedding. Described as a “stunning tale of survival, female courage, resilience, and revenge,” Sira has been lauded with industry accolades since its release, winning the Berlinale Panorama Award for Best Feature, and being chosen as Burkina Faso’s entrant for Best International Feature Film Submission for the 2024 Oscars. Continue Reading >>
