AND REOPENING OF A MOVIE THEATRE
Ciné Guimbi’s mission is to be much more than a cinema. Its vision is to become a
beloved, fully integrated and accessible living space in an urban setting. A place
for exchanges, for meeting and communicating, for learning and for training, an
entity with multiple roles to play. It has already turned into a vital pilot project for
a city like Bobo-Dioulasso – with its one million inhabitants – where such cultural
infrastructures and a well-adapted, accessible world of cinema, open to all, have
so far been only a distant dream.
B
obo-Dioulasso is the second largest city and the cultural capital of Burkina
Faso, a country known as the flagship of African and Panafrican cinema in the
heart of West Africa. In spite of this, Bobo-Dioulasso no longer presently has a
single running movie theatre. To overcome this unfortunate situation affecting
many other countries in the world today, the Association de Soutien du Cinema
au Burkina Faso launched a rescue plan to restore Bobo-Dioulasso’s mythical
movie theater, Ciné Guimbi.
Over the past three years, an international support network has been growing
in favour of this project, particularly within the circles of Cinema and movie-lovers: from
the FESPACO in Africa to Namur’s FIFF and the Cannes’ Festival, over 50 international film
festivals and countless movie theatres in the world have become committed to saving Ciné
Guimbi. Contributing to the revival of Cine Guimbi is an act of faith for the survival of cinema.
Currently the project is in the construction phase and approximately 50% of the budget has
been covered through a crowd-funding campaign. The reopening date of Ciné Guimbi is set
for the end of 2016.
28 africandesignmagazine.com