The films in Ouaga were wonderful. The 3 cinemas showed a range from the entire african continent. Local Burkina films were obviously popular, as were Moroccan and Algerian films. The most modern cinema, Cinema Burkina, was air conditioned and western style. It attracted the most visitors and was often booked out. There were some very long queues which sometimes extended 50m or more. It was possible to buy a festival pass, which avoided the queues altogether, and to enter by an entrance with a long red carpet which was laid on the closed roadway outside. However I just bought tickets as I went. I didnt need to spend the extra for the numerous hotel functions that the pass covered.
I really had wanted to see a Burkina film called Le Lion D’Or, which everyone was raving about. However, one look at the queue, and I assessed that I would both be waiting over 45 minutes, and would enter the cinema late. The one and only ticket booth was not high speed. So I wandered around the corner to the Cinema Oubre, which was a half outdoor, half indoor one. The rear of the cinema was under cover, but at a great height, say 10m, like a factory warehouse roof. It had 3 huge ceiling fans. The front half was open with an outdoor screen. There were iron and wooden benches. I loved the projector; it was standing at the rear on the ground, just behind the last row, and was an old fashioned full height projector with film spools about 1m in diameter, just like the ones you see at a drive in movie, if you peek in the windows while walking from the car to get chocolate ice creams in the break. I watched the whole film loading and spooling procedure, it was fascinating and seemed very 1920’s.
The film was an Algerian film called ‘Mascarade.’ The plot was a Shakespearean comedy; boy meets girl, girl likes boy, confusion when village thinks a visiting american millionaire proposes, the misunderstanding suits the family, lots of deceptions and nearly being found out, lots of near misses. It was enjoyable and a window onto things you wouldnt normally see, which is what I enjoy most about foreign films; it extends you a bit. But the audience were hilarious. The mainly local audience (the celebrities being next door) found it all the funniest thing they had ever seen. You know when you are watching people double up over something silly, and its hard not to join in? If you saw Michael Caton in The Castle, watching Red Faces, it was that sort of thing. I kept thinking, he’ll jump the fence to escape the protective brother, but the brother will double back, and the suitor will be surprised, and the brother will glare and the suitor will go aiyeeee. Thus was it so. But half the audience howled with laughter and pointed, and I couldnt help finding it funny too. Most of the film went like that. Great atmosphere and a really enjoyable night.