Premium
TV5MONDE began rolling out "Une femme à Kosyam" ("A Woman at Kosyam") across its African television service on March 8, 2026, following its release on TV5MONDE+ on March 4, 2026. The new Burkinabé series, which world-premiered in competition in the Series section at FESPACO 2025, is a 7 x 52-minute political thriller. TV5MONDE describes it as a series about a woman who becomes president of Burkina Faso and must govern under pressure amid political manipulation, corruption, and foreign interests surrounding newly discovered oil. It's created, directed, and produced in Ouagadougou by Serge Armel Sawadogo and his company Sermel Films. I came across "Une femme à Kosyam" in a TV5MONDE segment tied to International Women's Day on March 8. It features Sawadogo and the series's star, Georgette Paré. While the premise and the general conversation around the drama were genuinely engaging, the discussion of how the project was assembled and financed — particularly as it relates to Burkina Faso and broader francophone Africa — caught my attention. Based on official source material currently available, "Une femme à Kosyam" received at least €160,000 in publicly identified francophone support before launch. That figure comes from three separate official records: €30,000 from the Fonds pour la Jeune Création Francophone in 2019; €50,000 from the Fonds Francophonie TV5MONDEplus, published on March 3, 2022 as part of the 2021 results; and €80,000 in finishing support in 2024, listed as €40,000 from the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF) and €40,000 in ACP-European Union bonus support. TV5MONDE's official launch material also lists a broader support structure around the series. Other participants include the Presidency of Faso; the country's Ministry of Communication, Culture, Arts and Tourism; the Fonds de Développement Culturel et Touristique; the Bureau Burkinabè du Droit d'Auteur; the Fonds pour la Jeune Création Francophone; the Fonds Francophonie TV5MONDE+; and the Fonds Image de la Francophonie, administered by the OIF with support from the European Union and the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States. TV5MONDE describes its role as a préachat, or pre-buy. In the TV5MONDE interview, Sawadogo said the production needed financial partners, that the Presidency allowed the team to shoot there, that Burkina Faso's Ministry of Culture backed the project, and that TV5MONDE's pre-buy was the point at which the team knew production could go ahead. That does not mean TV5MONDE was necessarily the largest financial contributor — the amount of its pre-buy has not been publicly disclosed.
