“We have a problem,” said Kabore. “We have storytellers but not the people to shoot the movies. Africans have lost the cues to unlock the workings of their imagination.”

This dearth of technical savvy will be addressed at Africa’s biggest celebration of cinema, the biennial Fespaco film festival, being held in Burkina Faso from February 26.

For eight days, the capital Ouagadougou will host the biggest names in African film. Around 200 movies will be screened and debates will rage about the challenges of making films on a continent better known for conflict than for cinema.

Fespaco has chosen “training and the challenges of professionalisation” as its theme this year, stressing the need for homegrown talent.

African filmmakers have long complained about the difficulties of getting their movies from the storyboard to the screen. They often have to seek foreign funding, which comes with strings attached, and the home market is underdeveloped.

The technical expertise needed to bring their visions alive is also often found outside the continent, forcing them to travel abroad for special effects or editing facilities.

Two new film schools in Burkina Faso hope to address these needs. Kabore, who won Fespaco’s top prize in 1997 for “Buud Yam”, is the force behind one of them -- named Imagine after the John Lennon song.

“In 10 years I hope Africans will be making mainstream movies. The more you give the opportunity to professionals to tell stories rooted in their own land, the better is our access to the market -- culturally and commercially,” he said.

African films in spotlight

This drive to foster technical excellence comes as African films are enjoying a rare moment in the international spotlight.

South African director Darrell Roodt’s “Yesterday”, about an HIV-positive mother who wants to live long enough to see her child go to school, has been nominated for an Oscar for best foreign film. It is the first feature film in the Zulu language.

“Hotel Rwanda”, the tale of a real-life hotel manager who saved hundreds of lives during Rwanda’s 1994 genocide, has been nominated for three Oscars.

And in a first for the continent, an African film has just won the top prize at the Berlin Film Festival. “U-Carmen eKhayelitsha” transports George Bizet’s opera “Carmen” to South African townships and translates it into Xhosa.

The hype surrounding the success of these films underscores how absent Africa has often been from mainstream cinemas.

Not a single film student has been formally trained in Burkina Faso, the Cannes of Africa, for the past 18 years.

Kabore hopes his school can help change this.

The director ploughed millions of CFA francs of his own money into the training centre in Ouagadougou’s outlying Wayalghin district. Bold black letters spell out the inspiring name over the gate leading into the compound.

“It’s like a movie we are shooting,” said Kabore over the whine of a drill as he toured the buildings where workers were racing to finish the job before Fespaco opens.

“It’s not just a building that is being created here. There’s a spirit as well ... We are trying to give Africans an opportunity to repossess their imaginations.”

Dreaming of film

The directors arriving in Ouagadougou for the festival have their own tales of the hardships of making films in Africa.

Access to the market is dominated by foreign funding. Many French co-productions require French crew, and the use of French post-production facilities.

Fanta Regina Nacro, director of “La Nuit de la Verite” (”The Night of Truth”), a film about the psychological scars left after genocide, had no choice but to rely on Europe.

“I had to go to France for all the special effects -- for the severed limbs and depictions of atrocities,” she said.

“You also have to buy all the film stock in France -- it’s simply not available here,” she said.

Jean-Elliot Ilboudo, a 22-year-old film student wearing a chain necklace and a silver ring emblazoned with the word “RAP”, has already encountered problems as he shoots a documentary about a troupe of traditional dancers and percussionists.

“I’m doing everything myself -- cameraman, director and editor. I have filmed 180 minutes of footage but I need it to be 23 minutes at the end. The problem is I don’t have the right software and my computer is too old to edit on,” he said.

Ilboudo was one of the star students on a pilot course two years ago that led to the creation of Burkina Faso’s new regional institute of image and sound, IRIS.

In September, young hopefuls from West Africa and beyond will begin an intensive two-year training course at IRIS, which was funded by Burkina Faso and international donors.

Students will have to pay 600,000 CFA francs ($1,196) a year to attend the institute -- a princely sum on a continent where many live on less than a dollar a day.

“It’s a lot to pay, but when you pay for something yourself you realise the value of it,” said Rasmane Ouedraogo, head of training at IRIS and a director, actor, producer and technician.

“Too often, African directors have to do it all -- script writer, director, producer, lighting designer, cinematographer, sound engineer, actor. This institute will create the chance for specialism, and a pool of African film making talent,” he said.

This is exactly what Kabore wants.

“Africa is a huge treasure of tales, legends, and myths,” he said. “We have a responsibility to ourselves and the rest of the world to learn how to tell them.”  

Photo courtesy: ikuska.com