Cinomade and the fight against the HIV/Aids pandemic in Burkina Faso

Abstract

This article is questioning the validity of educational screenings in a West African context, based on the detail study of Cinomade’s activities to raise awareness of the HIV/Aids pandemic in Burkina Faso. While traditional educational films are characterised by a general discourse prepared for a heterogeneous cultural area and try to convince the participants by imposing an outsider’s opinion, in that case, Cinomade’s team creates a specific video for each projection based on interviews made the same day in the village, in order not to expose the spectator to the point of view of foreigners (governmental employees or foreign NGOs), but to begin a debate on a subject matter brought-up by members of the community.