Thirteen South African films will be screened at FESPACO, Africa's longest-running festival. Held in Ouagadougou, the capital city of Burkina Faso, the 18th edition of the festival runs Feb 22 - March 1.

Six of the 13 films have been selected for official competition at FESPACO. These include: Amandla (Lee Hirsch), Waiting For Valdez (Dumisani Phakathi), God Is African (Akin Omotoso), A Drink In The Passage (Zola Maseko), Down Under (Neil Sonnekus) and Promised Land (pictured) (Jason Xenopoulos).

The other seven films will be shown as part of a retrospective, 'Focus on South Africa'. Titles to be shown include: Fools (Ramadan Suleman), Paljas (Katinka Heyns), Mr. Bones (Grey Hofmeyr), Raya (Zulfah Otto-Sallies), Ubuntu's Wounds (Sechaba Morojele), A Reasonable Man (Gavin Hood) and Jump The Gun (Les Blair).

For the first time, the National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) will be co-ordinating a consolidated presence in the form of a business exhibition stand and a number of other activities.

"It is important that we give due profile and prominence to African filmmakers at home and abroad. This is what makes FESPACO an essential event on the African filmscape. Winning a prize at FESPACO is a stamp of recognition and achievement from industry peers and can take filmmakers' careers onto higher levels", stated NFVF CEO: Eddie Mbalo.

"As the NFVF, we believe it is important to support such events and other similar Pan-African initiatives to strengthen the collective influence of the African film industry on global platforms", added Mbalo.