“Children At The Cinema” Initiative to Produce Film for FESPACO ’25

In collaboration with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the Ministry of Culture, Arts and Tourism of Burkina Faso, Apolline Traoré has launched the “Les Enfants au Cinéma.”

This three-month project will introduce about 30 children, aged 8 to 15, to filmmaking, training them to embrace creativity and storytelling.

Over these three months, the initiative will train children in various aspects of filmmaking, including scriptwriting, casting, production design, and editing. This training aims to give young voices a platform to tell their stories and reach other children who can relate to them. It will also serve as a stepping stone for those interested in pursuing filmmaking as a career.

The project will culminate in the children’s production of a film, which will premiere at the 29th edition of the Pan-African Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou (FESPACO), which would hold from February 22 to March 1, 2025.

At the National Museum in Ouagadougou, UNICEF’s communication chief in Burkina Faso, Ndiaga Deck, explained that this initiative would not only broaden the children’s horizons but also help them advocate for their rights through the stories they choose to tell the world.