This year's selection includes 170 works in competition, divided into 11 categories, including feature film, short film, documentary, television series, school film and animation film.
In the fiction feature competition are "Maputo Nakuzandza", by Ariadine Zampaulo (Mozambique), and "Our Lady of The Chinese Shop", by Ery Claver (Angola).
In the documentary features, Carlos Yuri Ceuninck also competes with "Omi Nobu/L'homme nouveau" (Cape Verde).
"Sunday Morning", fiction by Brazilian Bruno Ribeiro, is included in the short film competition, after having won the Silver Bear prize from the international jury at the 72nd edition of the Berlin Film Festival, in 2022.
In the Panorama section, for Angola, the animated feature film "Nayola", by the Portuguese José Miguel Ribeiro, is presented in an international co-production that includes Portugal, France, the Netherlands and Belgium.
The film, which should premiere in Portuguese cinemas in 2023, has a screenplay by Virgílio Almeida, based on a play by José Eduardo Agualusa and Mia Couto, and the narrative takes place between 1995 and 2011, between the end of the civil war of Angola and the first years of peace in the country.
The feature, which crosses animation in 2D and 3D, has already won several international awards and will open in February the International Animation Film Festival - Anima, in Brussels, according to the organization.
This year's edition of the most important meeting of African cinema will take place under the motto "African cinema and culture of peace", announced the general delegate of the festival, Alex Moussa Sawadogo.
The 28th edition of Fespaco takes place in Burkina Faso, which has experienced two coups d'état in 2022 and which has been destabilized by recurrent attacks by Islamic fundamentalist groups since 2015.
Fespaco, Africa's premier film event, is held every two years in Ouagadougou and in each edition, films of all formats compete for the 'Etalon d'or'.
Since 1969, when it was created, it has brought together tens of thousands of spectators and actors from the world of the 7th art in Ouagadougou.
Of the 15 feature films competing for the 'Yennenga Gold Stallion', the most important award, Cameroon and Tunisia are the most represented countries with two films in competition each.
The others are from Burkina Faso, Senegal, Egypt, Nigeria, Mozambique, Angola, Kenya, Mauritius, Morocco and Algeria. A film from the Dominican Republic was also selected.
The jury that will award the 'Étalon d'or' will be chaired by the Tunisian producer Dora Bouchoucha.
