Fratricide in Burkina Faso - Thomas Sankara and French Africa

  • Fratricide au Burkina, Thomas Sankara et la Françafrique [...]
Genre : Political
Type : Documentary
Original title :
Principal country concerned : Column : Cinema/tv
Year of production : 2007
Format : Mid-length
Running time : 52 (in minutes)

Burkina Faso, Africa, October 15, 1987. Automatic gunfire breaks the even night's silence and kills President Thomas Sankara. Had the assassins been sent by his brother in arms, Blaise Compaoré, with whom he had launched the Marxist Burkina Revolution a few years before, and who took control of the country right after the assassination?

Still in power to this date, Compaoré's main argument at the time was also the one of the assassins: Sankara had lost all sense of reality, and was leading the Revolution into Chaos. It needed to be "rectified". But who really was behind this "rectification"? Dark forces from France, the former colonial power, envying neighbour states, wealthy business interests?

In the hope to find some clues, this films looks at the critical years just prior to the assassination. It collects clues from the very people who were close to Sankara. 20 years after his assassination, they remember him vividly. Just like in the rest of Africa: Sankara, remains fondly remembered as one of the great African leaders.




Duration
(52')

Format
HD Cam

Original version
French

Available versions
English
French
Spanish

Director
HO Thuy-thien
MAURO Didier

Production
QUARTIER LATIN
RFO
SOLFERINO IMAGES

Official Selection, Festival International de Montréal 2007: Vues d'Afriques

Partners

  • Arterial network
  • Media, Sports and Entertainment Group (MSE)
  • Gens de la Caraïbe
  • Groupe 30 Afrique
  • Alliance Française VANUATU
  • PACIFIC ARTS ALLIANCE
  • FURTHER ARTS
  • Zimbabwe : Culture Fund Of Zimbabwe Trust
  • RDC : Groupe TACCEMS
  • Rwanda : Positive Production
  • Togo : Kadam Kadam
  • Niger : ONG Culture Art Humanité
  • Collectif 2004 Images
  • Africultures Burkina-Faso
  • Bénincultures / Editions Plurielles
  • Africiné
  • Afrilivres

With the support of