Ethiopian film Teza" wins three special prizes in Ouagadougou festival

LOME, March 7 (Xinhua) The Ethiopian film “Teza” won three special prizes during the 21st pan-African Cinema and Television Festival (FESPACO), the brightest of African scenarios, according to information monitored here.

“Teza” by Ethiopian realistic film maker Haile Gerima was crowned on Thursday with a UN fight against poverty prize of 5 million FCFA (10,000 U.S. dollars), a Zain prize of 2 million FCFA(4,000 dollars) and a prize for its originality, technical quality and performance.

The biyearly festival, which runs from Feb. 28 to March 7, sets51 million FCFA (102,000 dollars) for 18 prizes to promote Africa’s film industry.

The “Sembène Ousmane” prize from the pan-African Ecobank went to “Nothing but the truth” by South African film maker John Kani.

Abdoulaye Dao, a Burkina Faso film maker, received 5 million FCFA in reward for “A woman not like others”.

Out of the 667 dossiers registered for the film festival, 128 films were chosen to compete for the prizes for long films, short films, documentary films and diaspora films.

Ouagadougou staged the first FESPACO in 1969. A state agency was created in 1972 for the management and organization of the increasingly influential film festival in the continent.