Burkina Faso's president urges cultivating film industry in Africa

Burkina Faso's President Roch Marc Christian Kabore called for the emergence of the film industry in Africa here on Saturday.

"We should work for the emergence of the film industry in Africa and we are working to make it a reality," Kabore said at the closing ceremony of the 25th Pan-African Cinema and Television Festival of Ouagadougou (FESPACO).

He made the remarks after handing the golden Yennega Stallion, the grand prize of the biennial festival FESPACO, to the winner -- Senegalese filmmaker Alain Formose Gomis, whose film beat 19 other competing feature-length fiction films.

Alassane Dramane Ouattara, president of Cote d'Ivoire, was present at the closing ceremony, as his country was the guest of honor of the 25th FESPACO.

"The African culture, our culture, is celebrated with so much excitement," he said. "To all those who took part in the festival, Cote d'Ivoire feels honored and the people of Cote d'Ivoire support you."

A total of 150 films from African countries took part in the competition at this year's FESPACO, which was kicked off on Feb. 25 in Burkina Faso's capital Ouagadougou. Endi