Franklin Ugobude: Mon Ami Fela – Viewing Fela’s Life Through a Different Lens 3 minutes ago It’s a late evening in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso where FESPACO – the Pan African Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou is scheduled to hold. The festival, which holds once every two years, is the largest film festival on the continent, gathering filmmakers and film lovers all over the continent for a week of an African cinema experience. One of the most fascinating films on the program for this week-long event is Mon Ami Fela (My Friend Fela), a film about the late Nigerian icon, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti . The ninety-two-minute documentary by Brazilian director, Joel Zito Araujo , looks at the life of the musical genius, Fela, from an entirely new narrative – one that isn’t brought to the limelight as often as it should be: his political activism. Fela Anikulapo-Kuti is regarded mostly as a musical icon; one who is in death, still relevant as his ...