Cinema helps transcend cultural barriers in Burkina Faso

CNA Burkina Faso – a partner of Africalia – has made documentaries on 3 Burkinabe villages to advance mutual understanding. The inhabitants were able to watch the documentaries and discover differences as well as similarities in everyday life, traditions, and ancestral customs.  

“The films have taught me that the traditional ceremonies in Soaw and in our village are not alike, especially with respect to mobilisation and preparation”, a female inhabitant of Doulougou explains. “We should never neglect the traditions of others and be content with our own culture.” Her village chief adds that it is always good to adopt the positive aspects of your neighbour while consequently giving it your own unique twist.

Advancing mutual knowledge

They both attended a film screening in their village of Doulougou, hosted by Cinéma Numérique Ambulant (CNA) Burkina Faso, a loyal partner of Belgian organisation Africalia (see box). CNA – active in 10 African countries – is an international network of mobile cinema associations. These outdoor cinemas screen films in rural localities and in working-class urban areas. It wants to instil the power of cinema in populations who do not often have access to this medium.

With the Africalia-supported project “À la découverte de nos villages” (Discovering our villages), CNA Burkina Faso aimed to achieve another goal: by shooting footage in three of the country’s villages – Kuila, Doulougou, and Soaw – it sought to strengthen the connections between the inhabitants of neighbouring villages through the (re)discovery of each other’s immaterial patrimony. For example, the villages Kuila and Soaw are approximately 200 km apart and do not have many opportunities to get in touch with each other.

The documentaries focused on everyday life, traditions, and ancestral customs. In December 2024, five outdoor film nights were hosted in each of the three villages, allowing the inhabitants to watch the documentaries that deal with their own village and the two other villages. That way, CNA Burkina Faso wanted to encourage the village communities to transcend cultural barriers, advance mutual knowledge and reduce the risk of conflict.

During the film nights, other films were also screened, including testimonies from women that practice a profession traditionally seen as a (strictly) male occupation: bricklayer, gardener, engineer. Other films dealt with the navigation of visually impaired people through society. They illustrated that a visual impairment is not insurmountable and that the afflicted individuals are ordinary people.

An audience of 3,328 people

During the post-screening discussions, the spectators conveyed their enthusiasm on the knowledge they had acquired. Apart from the diversity in traditional customs and sacral sites, the various recipes and dishes also stood out, as well as the differences in fishing. For instance, the fish caught in Doulougou must be consumed on site and cannot be resold, while in other areas resale is permitted.

Notably, people frequently gain a deeper understanding of their own culture as well. Or what they have witnessed in other villages encourages them to reconsider their own traditions. An inhabitant of Soaw said: “Traditional dance should be a dance that our children learn and don’t give up. Here, they don’t organise this dance much. Parents need to once again organise the traditional dances that reflect the history of the village.”

Overall, CNA Burkina Faso was able to reach 3,328 people with its film nights, including a large number of women and children. And it did not end there. During February’s Pan-African Film & TV Festival of Ouagadougou (FESPACO) – one of the largest African film festivals in the Burkinabe capital Ouagadougou – the documentaries from the Africalia-supported project were also shown during a special ‘Soirée Africalia’. Mission accomplished!

Africalia also supports the Festival des Identités Culturelles (FESTIC), created by CNA in 2008. That festival aims to promote films that highlight remarkable cultural identities related to Africa. Its objective is to help advance and preserve the richness of several populations and to contribute to a cultural dialogue. FESTIC takes place every two years. The next edition is scheduled to take place in May 2026.