In Burkina Faso, the Taafé Vision association, supported by the Feminists in Action project, has been implementing a project since June 2022 aimed at strengthening women's capacities in screenwriting and short film production.
With this in mind, Taafé Vision launched a call for projects on the theme of "women's resilience," open to all women residing in Burkina Faso, regardless of their background. Following the call for projects, Taafé Vision received seventeen scripts, which were reviewed with the participation of the Femin-In citizen movement, an association that promotes and defends women's rights in Burkina Faso. Ten women were selected to take part in training sessions and receive support in finalizing their scripts.
A shared desire to raise awareness of social issues through cinema Whether they are modern literature students, event decorators, writers/directors, or bank tellers, the ten women selected by Taafé Vision have varied backgrounds but all have one thing in common: the desire to raise public awareness about the injustices experienced by women and girls, situations where their rights are violated in both the private and public spheres. For one of them, the short film that will emerge from her screenplay will be, as Aimé Césaire says, "the voice of misfortunes that have no voice and the freedom of those who languish in the dungeon of despair."
A collective adventure rich in lessons After being selected, they all gathered in Ouagadougou in November 2022 to begin various training courses organized by Taafé Vision: screenwriting techniques, editing, filming, directing, and even gender considerations in writing. Beyond the technical aspects, these training courses were an opportunity for Taafé Vision to encourage these women to question their own perceptions of gender-based violence and their representations of women's place in society. Subsequently, in February 2023, the ten selected women took part in a writing residency in Ziniaré. This activity, which was essential for finalizing the screenplays, was made possible thanks to additional funding from CANAL+ Burkina Faso, which had already collaborated with Taafé Vision in the past. For a week, the selected women reworked their screenplays, sharing their thoughts and helping each other (some working on each other's screenplays) in a spirit of sisterhood. Once the scripts were finalized, Taafé Vision selected the script that will be translated into a short film. One of the criteria was to feature an inspiring main character who embodies resilience. After consulting with the resource persons mobilized for the training sessions, Taafé Vision chose the script by Délia Eboubié Yasmine IDO entitled "Au pied du mur" (With My Back Against the Wall). ." Through this script, the young woman from Bobo-Dioulasso wants to tell the story of Marietou, 17, the eldest of three children whose mother, deeply rooted in tradition, promised her in marriage before her birth to the most powerful marabout in the region where she lives. Risking her life, Marietou refuses to give up her dreams and resign herself to a marriage she did not choose. Marietou's story is unfortunately the story of a significant number of young girls in Burkina Faso, despite the existence of laws prohibiting the practice of forced marriage. Although only Délia Eboubié Yasmine IDO's script was chosen for production, the nine other women selected by Taafé Vision continued their adventure with Taafé Vision by participating in the filming of the short film, which will be available at the end of May 2023.
