Ouagadougou: Africa's capital of cinema

Home to the most important film festival in Africa, Ouagadougou remains a cultural landmark for the entire continent.

The center, Africa's film capital thanks to the FESPACO festival, can be comfortably visited by taxi or motorcycle taxi.

The Moro-Naba Palace, the ceremonial residence of the traditional Mossi sovereign, hosts every Friday morning an ancient symbolic ritual still practiced today.

A few steps away, the Cathedral of Ouagadougou, built in Sudanese style with clay bricks, blends local architectural elements with Christian ones.

Continuing you visit the National Museum of Burkina Faso, which displays traditional masks and musical instruments of the country's numerous ethnic groups.

As evening approaches, the Grand Marché, rebuilt after a fire in the nineties, comes alive with textile and craft commerce in the capital.

The FESPACO, the Pan-African film festival founded in 1969, remains the most important cinematic event on the African continent, attracting directors and enthusiasts every two years from across Africa and the international diaspora.

The weekly ritual at the Palace of Moro-Naba, in which the traditional sovereign feigns preparation for war before being convinced to desist by his counselors, has been handed down for centuries and is open to visitor observation.