Festival for an imaginative continent

Fest'Africa 1993 - 2003: Ten years of commitment for an imaginative Africa

Arts et Médias d'Afrique (AMA) will celebrate ten years of Fest'Africa, its multi-disciplinary arts festival based on literature, in November.

AMA is developing several projects which will be realised at Fest'Africa sous les Etoiles (Chad, from 24 October until 2 November 2003) and Fest'Africa Lille (France from 24 November until 6 December).
Fest'Africa sous les Etoiles, in reference to Joseph Brahim Seid's book Au Tchad sous les Etoiles, will be AMA's second African experience: the first one took place in Rwanda from 1998 to 2000 - Rwanda: Writing to remember.

A centrepiece of the festival will be the New Congress of Writers from Africa and the African Diaspora. This congress will be taking place almost fifty years after the first two, organised by the African Society for Culture (Société Africaine de Culture - SAC) in Paris in 1956 and Rome in 1959.

About a hundred writers and artists will take part to the New Congress whose theme will be "Peace and War: what about commitment?" The aims of the congress are to review African literature of the 20th century; analyse the evolution and state of commitment in artistic production and the place of writers and artists in a lasting peace ; strengthen artistic links between Africa and the West Indies. It will also seek to make writers and artists sensitive to crucial questions that Africa has to deal with such as fighting against HIV/Aids.

Choosing Chad as the host country of the project is significant. With the ending of the recent civil war, Chad brought to an end about 30 years of violent and tragic conflicts in the country. Cultural events such as Fest'Africa will enable people to discover another face to this country. Chad has great creative potential and this festival will give an opportunity for the artists of Chad to meet and exchange views and expertise with fellow artists from Africa and the rest of the world.

Other events at the festival will be the building of an artistic town; performance of the play Les Sextirpateurs; a multi-disciplinary creation Tchad ya guelbi (Chad my Love); a carnival which will mobilise artists and people living in N'Djamena ; cinema under the sky; Kinshasa, Brazzaville, sounds from the banks; and concerts with musicians from Chad and other countries.

For more information: festafrica@nordnet.fr