| Location | Apt, Vaucluse, France |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2003 |
| Founded by | Fanny Toulemonde (Projections), Cinéma César, Le Goût de lire en pays d’Apt, Dominique Wallon and the Comité de jumelage Apt-Bakel, Senegal |
| Festival date | November annually |
| Language | French English |
| Website | https://www.africapt-festival.fr/ |
The Festival des Cinémas d'Afrique du pays d'Apt (FCAPA) is an annual international film festivalonAfrican cinema organised since 2003 in Apt, Vaucluse, France.[1][2][3][4]
Programs of recent festival editions screen films in the categories of fiction feature films, long documentaries, shorts, and a press conference feature film. The festival has also presented film retrospectives of many African filmmakers, including Merzak Allouache, Malek Bensmaïl, Souleymane Cissé, Mahamat Saleh Haroun, Samba Félix Ndiaye, Idrissa Ouedraogo, Ousmane Sembène, Abderrahmane Sissako, and Tariq Teguia.[4]
The 2023 edition of the FCAPA screened 7 short and 20 feature films, including Amchilini (Choisis-moi) (documentary, 2023) by Kader Allamine (Tchad); Behind the Mountains (fiction, 2023) by Mohamed Ben Attia (Tunisia); Our lady of the Chinese Shop (fiction, 2022) by Ery Claver (Angola); Au cimetière de la pellicule (documentary, 2023) by Thierno Souleymane Diallo (Guinea); La mère de tous les mensonges (documentary, 2023) by Asmae El Moudir (Morocco); Goodbye Julia (fiction, 2023) by Mohamed Kordofani (Sudan); Nome (fiction, 2023) by Sana Na N’Hada (Guinea-Bissau); Eat bitter (documentary, 2023) by Ningyi Sun (China) and Pascale Appora-Gnekindy (Central African Republic); and Banel et Adama (fiction, 2023) by Ramata-Toulaye Sy (France/Senegal).
The Festival produced several films with support of the Centre national du cinéma et de l'image animée, including Nanga Def and Nawaari, both by Moussa Touré in 2005 with the participation of local students, and Regards de femmes (2005) by Michel Amarger, Électro for ever (2008) by Angèle Diabang Brener with electronics students, and Le regard colonial, a 2010 montage by Jean-Pierre Daniel of colonial films.[1][4]
Engaging pupils of local schools was a festival goal since the start.[5] A screenwriter-in-residence - Nina Khada in 2022 and Lamine Ammarkhodja in 2023 - guided local students in the FCAPA Junior workshop for eight weeks to write and produce a video.[6]
In each year's Marathon program an invited film director coaches various teams to each create a three-minute short in 48 hours, which is then shown and judged by a jury at the Festival.[4]
Durant une semaine, c'est plus d'une trentaine de films, courts et longs métrages, fiction et documentaire, qui sont projetés. Une vingtaine de réalisateurs invités échangent avec le public lors de débats, leçons de cinéma et rencontres. Plus de 5000 spectateurs participent à cet événement porté par une équipe professionnelle mais surtout, de nombreux bénévoles. (Translation: Over the course of a week, more than thirty films (short and feature films, fiction and documentary), are screened. Around twenty invited directors share their views with the public during debates, film workshops and panel interviews. More than 5,000 spectators participate in this event supported by a professional team but mainly by many volunteers.)
