He is still wondering whether the prize he won for Fools was a politically motivated or not… Refusing to bite his tongue over the Zongo affair, the Burkinabè journalist murdered last December, and feeling that that the event did not do enough to valorize filmmaking, the furious Ramadan Suleman left early three days before the festival had ended. Other South Africans did not regret their trip. On his return from Ouaga, John Matshikiza, the independent actor and producer, devoted five pages to the the event in the national weekly The Mail & Guardian. Illustrated by his images of Ouagalese faces, and a full page shot of the splendid Naky Sy Savané, he entitled his positive visions « African films are a big hit in the land of honest men« , and « in Africa, anything is possible« . According to him, Djibril Diop Mambéty’s absence dominated this Fespaco. « The festival goes on, with its organized chaos », he sighed nonetheless. Furthermore, John Matshikiza offered a critique of South African cinema, judging them according to the quality of the other films presented. His two favourite works were La Vie sur terre by the Mauritanian Abderrahmane Sissoko, and Hot Irons, by the New York based Nigerian Waheed Andrew Donsumu.
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