Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso), March 1 (APS) – Senegalese director Katy Léna Ndiaye presented her new documentary entitled ”L’argent, la liberté. Une histoire de franc CFA”, which aims to be a critical reflection on the colonial heritage of a community currency that is now controversial.
From the special envoy of the APS, Fatou Kiné Sène
”This film deals with the CFA franc, finances, history and politics, is above all a film about legacies. It’s a quest to better understand this currency that we have always received to go and buy candy,” she said.
The surprise announcement in December 2019, by Presidents Ouattara (Côte d’Ivoire) and Macron (France), of the end of the CFA franc and its replacement by the ECO, marks a turning point in the little-known history of this currency. , believes Katy Léna Ndiaye.
”The idea for the film, released in 2022, was born from an interview I had with an economist who told me that the question of CFA francs is a serious question, but is never taken into account by our policies. This intrigued me, and starting from this sentence, I wondered about this currency. (…) I immersed myself in this story from a historical point of view to find out what this CFA franc system is,” explained the director.
In competition at this 28th edition of the Pan-African Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou (Fespaco), this feature film of more than an hour tells the story of the CFA franc from its origins, an unknown and controversial currency today. . Katy Léna Ndiaye says, however, to be careful not to enter into this controversy caused by the currency.
It poses the debate and collects multitudes of expert opinions, all men, most of whom are convinced that the maintenance of this currency aims to enslave these African countries and make them still dependent on their colonizer.
She interviews people of her generation who are informed witnesses and at the same time actors of this currency, which they saw being devalued on January 11, 1994, like the Senegalese economist Felwine Sarr or his compatriots Ndongo Samba Sylla, Abdoulaye Bathily and others.
The director also delivers the testimonies of the first African heads of state such as Félix Houphouet Boigny, the first president of Côte d’Ivoire, Gnassimgbé Eyadéma (Togo), or Léopold Sédar Senghor (Senegal).
Katy Léna Ndiaye goes beyond the history of this currency common to the countries of sub-Saharan Africa and questions this heritage, its future, leaving open the discussion.
Journalist and filmmaker, Katy Léna Ndiaye, anchored in documentaries, has already produced ”We have time for us” (2018), on the Burkinabe activist rapper Serge Bambara alias Smoky, ”Waiting for men” (2007 ). She has also been a producer for a few years.