The 20th Pan-African Film and Television festival opened this week in the burkinabe capital, Ouagadougou. The festival brings together African films, television programmes, as well as producers, director and others involved in making and marketing film and TV in Africa. As is traditional the opening ceremony featured a lavish ceremony of Burkinabe traditional and modern culture.

The festival started in 1969 with Senegal, Burkina Faso (then called Upper Volta), Ivory Coast, Niger and Cameroon participating, it has since grown to include almost all African countries. The highlight of the festival, which runs from the 24th of February to the 3rd of March, is the award ceremony held at the end of the week. The past winners have been dominated by films from Francophone Africa, but in recent years films from South Africa have put in a strong showing.

As with Film Festivals across the world, FESPACO has had its fair share of critical successes but this have rarely translated into commercial triumphs. African audience are entranced by the usual raft of Hollywood produced films, and uniquely for Africa a new genre of film dubbed Nollywood. Nollywood, the Nigerian home video industry has taken the continent by storm with storylines that capture the essence of modern and traditional Africa, however in pursuing volume this merging industry has left aspects of production quality on the back burner.

The these two disparate strands of African film culture are where the future lies and while Nollywood has no representation at FESPACO this year, its commercial acumen is what the worthies in Ouagadougou need if FESPACO is to be transformed from a somewhat elitist gathering to a pinnacle of popular African culture.