Brussels, 11 March 2019/ACP: Mr Léonard-Emile Ognimba, Assistant-Secretary-General of the ACP Group, together with the Director General for Development and International Cooperation of the European Commission, Mr Stefano Manservisi, officially launched the new ACP-EU Culture Programme on the occasion of the 26th edition of The Ouagadougou Pan-African Film and Television Festival (FESPACO), on 24 February 2019 in Ouagadougou.

Addressing the professionals in the sector and the global media who came to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the Festival, Assistant Secretary-General (ASG) Ognimba expressed his delight that an ever-increasing share of the Intra-ACP funds are being used to finance culture thanks to a clearly-stated political will on both the ACP and European sides.

He announced that the new programme, with a total budget of €40 million, would devote €10 million to co-production in the audiovisual and cinema sector.

The ACP Secretariat and the European Union also reiterated their commitment, alongside FESPACO, to promote African audiovisual works: “We hope, through financing the costs of dubbing and sub-titling films in national languages in particular, that the ACP films awarded at FESPACO will meet their audiences, in cities and also in the countryside,” said ASG Ognimba.

The general objective of the “ACP-EU Programme towards a viable cultural industry” (ACP-EU Culture Programme) is to support the contribution of the cultural and creative sectors to the socio-economic development of ACP countries through:

(a) the creation/production of quality goods and services at a competitive cost and in increased quantity through digital technology;
(b) access to national, regional and international markets, the circulation/diffusion/promotion of ACP goods and services and image education;
(c) improving access to finance through innovative mechanisms, allowing co-financing and
aimed at reducing the dependence of ACP cultural operators on international funding.
The Ouagadougou Pan-African Film and Television Festival (FESPACO) is one of the largest African film festivals. It takes place every two years in Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso.
More information on FESPACO and the 2019 awards:https://fespaco.bf/en/