Explore Africa's top film festival with these 360 photos
A winner was crowned amid tight security in Burkina Faso's capital.
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Africa's top film festival came to its conclusion in Burkina Faso this weekend amid tight security in a country that faces daily terrorist threats.
Since 1969, Ouagadougou, the country's capital, has been the host of the weeklong festival, known as Fespaco. Held every two years, the festival is meant to showcase African cinema and features a $32,000 cash prize for the best film.
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This year, Fespaco received more than 1,000 submissions and attracted more than 100,000 visitors who came to celebrate the cinema from all over the world, despite the threats.
Armored vehicles and soldiers with machine guns patrolled the main streets of Ouagadougou, while heavily armed security forces guarded hotels and restaurants and searched cars with bomb detectors.
"I call on all festival-goers to remain calm because security forces are doing their best to assure maximum security," said Marcel Pare, head of security for Fespaco 2017.
French-Senegalese filmmaker Alain Gomis took home the festival's top prize for his movie "Félicité," which centers on a Congolese singer fighting to save her son.
"When you stay at home ... [the jihadists] can achieve what they want," Tako Daouda, 30, told Reuters after a screening of "Félicité" on Saturday. "You have to go out and take those people on and say 'No'."
In January 2016, 33 people were killed after militants loyal to al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb attacked a restaurant and a hotel in Ouagadougou.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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