The African Film-library

Presentation

The African Film-library of Ouagadougou was created in 1989 on the occasion of the twentieth anniversary of FESPACO. It is an initiative of African filmmakers who have been thinking about it since 1973 at various congresses and professional meetings. Its purpose is to safeguard Africa’s cinematic heritage. The film-library is up to the expectations of filmmakers and people of culture, concerned with the conservation of Africa’s cultural heritage.

The African Film-library of Ouagadougou is a public institution under the authority of FESPACO and is affiliated to the International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF) since 1994.

Activities

Film collection, inventory and cataloguing:

The first archives of the film-library comprised of forty copies of films. Today, it is home to a modern centre for film conservation (operational since 1995) with more than thousand works treated in store, including documentaries, fictionals, news, short and feature films representative of the cinematic landscape of all regions in Africa.

Objectives

  • Collection of African films and any works relating to Africa;
  • Treatment, conservation and promotion of the films collected through consultations by film and audio-visual researchers and professionals;
  • Inventory and cataloguing of Africa’s cinematic heritage; and
  • Development of African countries’ bio-filmographies.