As part of the preparations for the 28th Edition of FESPACO due from 25 February to 04 March 2023, the Management of FESPACO would like to inform professionals of the African and Diaspora film and audiovisual industry, partners, media people, film and audiovisual researchers, and personalities from the world of Arts and Culture, that an international selection committee has been set up.
The committee in place is a dynamic team of professionals with extensive knowledge and experience of the African and world film and audiovisual industry development. Their strong and diverse profiles will be helpful in exploring an increasingly diversified African cinematic landscape.
The committee composition has taken account of the Pan-African dimension of the festival and is therefore comprised of:

Pedro PIMENTA / Mozambique: Film producer and consultant, artistic director Pedro contributed to many cinematic projects such as Ebano Multimedia (Mozambique), a UNESCO Zimbabwe Film & Video Training Project for South Africa, Dockanema, and many more. He also served as artistic director for the Durban International Film Festival.

Lina CHABANNE / Tunisia: is the Executive producer of such feature films as "Satin Rouge", "Les Secrets" and "Corps étranger" by Raja Amari; "Inhebbek Hédi" and "Weldi" by Mohamed Ben Attia. She has sat on the education committee of the script development workshop SUD ECRITURE since 1997 and Med Film Factory, a training programme for Arab producers and directors since 2014. Organizer of the JCC projects workshop from 1992 to 2006, she was a member of both the management and selection committees of the same festival in 2008, 2010 and 2014. Lina is currently a member of the selection committee and served as executive director for the Tunisia Mediterranean Festival, Manarat.

Guy Désiré YAMEOGO / Burkina Faso: Lecturer at the Higher Institute of Image and Sound (ISIS) in Ouagadougou, director and scriptwriter Guy-Désiré holds a degree in Sociology from the University of Ouagadougou. He also received a scriptwriting training at Havana Film and TV School in Cuba. His debut film ‘'Si longue que soit la nuit", awarded at Cannes Film Festival in 1997, is the head start for a prolific career as a director and scriptwriter. He is credited with a dozen productions (fictionals, documentaries and TV series), and many scripts as well. He is the writer of many Burkinabe films.

Laza RAZANAJATOVO / Madagascar: Initiator and artistic director of "Rencontres du Film Court de Madagasikara (RFC)" festival, Laza has produced the works of most young Malagasy directors over the past 15 years. President of APASER (Pan-African Alliance of Screenwriters and Directors), he is strongly involved in projects for the defence of African authors' rights. Laza was a member of the film commission for OIF Fonds Image de la francophonie and worked as jury member for numerous film festivals, including FESPACO, JCC, Berlin Interfilm, Kenya International Film Festival (KIFF), Africa and Islands International Film Festival and Comoros International Film.

Claire DIAO / Burkina Faso: French-Burkinabe film critic Claire Diao created Quartiers Lointains, a traveling short film programme in 2013, and co-founded the Pan-African Film Magazine AWOTELE in 2015. She has also managed the distribution company Sudu Connexion since 2016. Her essay Double Vague, le nouveau souffle du cinéma français (Ed. Au Diable Vauvert, 2017) received SADC 2018 Beaumarchais Medal. TV presenter and columnist (Canal Plus, TV5 Monde, France O), she has worked for many international film festivals since 2011 (programming, animation). Claire DIAO is a member of the selection committee of the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs, the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival and mentor of the Durban Talents programme.

Farah Clementine DRAMANI-ISSOUFOU / Benin: French-Beninese film programmer, independent curator and researcher Farah Clementine is the coordinator of the short film committee of Cannes Festival Critics Week and a member of the selection committees of the Marrakech International Film Festival and the Villa Medici Film Festival. She has curated Une Aire de Famille, "Quartier Général" of the Africa2020 season in France and "Tofodji, sur les traces de nos ancêtres" au Bénin in 2022. As a researcher, her work focuses on African-Diaspora cinema and visual arts. She is also involved in activities of the Yennenga Centre, a platform for film development, distribution and training set up by Alain Gomis in Dakar.

Enoka Julien AYEMBA / Cameroon: is a film programmer and critic. He is particularly interested in African and African-Diaspora cinematography and anticolonial resistance and movements. He has designed various film cycles in these contexts, including Schwarze Menschen und das Nazi-Regime (Berlin, 2013), Beyond the Maps - African Resistance Against Colonial Power (Berlin, 2015), Cours, cours, camarade, le vieux monde est derrière toi - The Cinema of Med Hondo (Berlin, 2017 with B. Kuster & M-H. Gutberlet), Leaving and Staying - Perspectives on Mobility in African Film (Berlin).

HAWA ESSUMAN / Kenya: is a writer, director based in Nairobi, Kenya. She has directed a number of shorts and feature projects which have screened and won awards at several film festivals worldwide. She's also the co-founder of Manyatta Screenings and supports the next generation of African filmmakers by running master classes, workshops and panels on filmmaking across the continent.