(12 Nov 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso – 28 October 2024
1. A play, “You say IDP”, performed by internally displaced people at the Recreatrales festival
2. Fanta Charlotte Dabone performing on stage
3. SOUNDBITE (French) Fanta Charlotte Dabone, performer:
“When I’m on stage, I’m very happy, in the moment. It’s when I have to go back home that these thoughts start coming back in my head.”
4. Installations on festival grounds
5. Recreatrales festival’s artistic director Aristide Tarnagda
6. SOUNDBITE (French) Aristide Tarnagda, artistic director, Les Recreatrales:
++PARTLY OVERLAID WITH SHOTS 7,8,9++
“To continue to do something like theater is to affirm above all the primacy of life over death, the primacy of love, of joy, of celebration, of fraternity, over all that is violent. This is to refuse (the violence) in fact. It is to let oneself be affirmed forever as a poet, as an artist, as a dancer, as a choreographer, as a man of theater. We will (not) give into violent extremism, to barbarity.”
7. Kids running and playing in Bougsemtenga neighborhood
8. Installations on festival grounds
9. Various of people getting their faces painted at festival
STORYLINE:
The last three years have been tough for Fanta Charlotte Dabone, a mother of three from the conflict-battered West African country of Burkina Faso.
She fled her village after it was attacked by extremists, leaving her husband and her farm behind. Since then, she has been moving from place to place, struggling to pay rent and to buy enough food for her children, including a 2-year-old toddler.
But last month, she got to be a queen.
Every day for a week, together with dozens of other Burkinabe men and women who have been displaced by extremist violence, she swirled, danced and chanted for almost two hours in front of captivated audiences at Recreatrales, an international theatre festival held in Ouagadougou, the country’s capital.
“When I’m on stage, I’m very happy, in the moment," she said.
"It’s when I have to go back home that these thoughts start coming back in my head.”
Burkina Faso, a landlocked nation of 23 million in Sahel, an arid strip of land south of the Sahara, used to be known for its bustling arts scene, including renowned film and theatre festivals, and its sophisticated craftsmanship.
But in recent years, the country has become the symbol of the security crisis in the region. It has been shaken by violence from extremist groups and the government forces fighting them, much of it spilling over the border with Mali, and by two ensuing military coups.
The military junta, which took power by force in 2022, failed to provide the stability it promised.
Instead, the situation deteriorated: According to conservative estimates, more than 60% of the country is now outside of government control, more than 2 million people have lost their homes and almost 6.5 million need humanitarian aid to survive.
But against all odds, last month the Bougsemtenga district in the capital turned into a festival grounds to host Recreatrales for the 13th time.
Bougsemtenga derives its name from “bougtenga,” which means “happiness district” in Moore, one of the local languages.
True to its origins, this year its streets were transformed into a dreamy universe, resembling a crossover between a traditional village festival and “Alice in Wonderland."
More than 150 African and European artists performed and over 4,500 theatre lovers were able to escape the country’s grim reality, if just for a little while.
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