FESPACO 2023, Pt. 3: The Political Is Never Far Removed

After focusing on the questions of terrorism and women in the last installment of the Olivier Barlet Dossier ( Black Camera Fall 2023), this third article on the films from FESPACO 2023 looks at what might be considered political films. Yet for what emancipation? It may be a commonplace, but all images are political. Choosing the political as the theme of this third article on the films from FESPACO 2023 is very broad, then. Several films nonetheless stand out for their explicitly political nature, either focusing directly on political combats and taking activists as their subject, or clearly inscribing themselves in political history. But does this necessarily make them political? The question ought to be perhaps whether they are politically effective, or in other words, emancipatory? Do they help construct the freedom of the spectator, or ram home an uncontested message?