This report examines the 20 African countries mentioned least frequently across three years of comprehensive Akoroko coverage (end 2022 to end 2025). What follows is a condensed version of the report — based on more than 4,000 individual documents — sent to subscribers as part of Akoroko’s year-end 2025 series.
Methodology: I analyzed over 4,000 files using a Python script to count mentions of all 54 African countries. The 20 with the lowest counts appear below — a visibility gauge within screen-sector discourse, not an assessment of creative output.
The 20 Least-Mentioned Countries:
Seychelles, São Tomé and Príncipe, Comoros, Malawi, Libya, South Sudan, Lesotho, Equatorial Guinea, Botswana, Djibouti, Eritrea, Central African Republic, Zimbabwe, Niger, Gambia, Mozambique, Burundi, Angola, Gabon, and Liberia.
What Drives Low Visibility
Across these 20 countries, low visibility links to geography, economics, and politics. Common gaps include: absent or weak film commissions, limited screen policies, constrained public financing, and weak distribution infrastructure.
Small island states (Seychelles, São Tomé and Príncipe, Comoros) face limited domestic audiences, geographic isolation that raises costs, and small resource pools. They typically appear as locations for international productions rather than production centers — generating short-term revenue without building lasting local capacity.
Landlocked countries (Chad, Niger, South Sudan, Central African Republic) face higher equipment import costs and, in several cases, political instability that disrupts planning. Screen activity here is more likely to grow through mobile viewing and digital creator ecosystems than cinema infrastructure.
Post-conflict countries (Liberia, Burundi, South Sudan) prioritize security and basic services over creative economy investment. Cinema and television can support social rebuilding and employment, but capacity-building requires multiple years, training, safety, stable conditions, and patient financing.
When these countries appear in coverage, it’s typically via international festivals, co-productions, or foreign funding — shaping which projects move forward and whose priorities they reflect.
The Strategic Opportunity
Low visibility indicates uneven participation in structures that lead to financing and circulation, not absence. These markets offer less competition for partners and funders, but also limited initial capacity. Engagement requires long timelines and gradual audience development.
Work here typically involves basic market-building with local institutions: training programs, micro-grants, shared equipment, regional co-production links, digital distribution.
Global commissioning and festival spaces continue seeking wider story diversity. These 20 countries hold cultural, linguistic, and historical material that circulates only lightly. Development with local collaborators can expand what currently exists in global circulation.
Africa’s young, growing population means gradual audience expansion even in small current markets — particularly via mobile distribution and youth-oriented creator economies.
This is long-term work.
Pathways Forward
Limited infrastructure and capital create low production volume, which limits distribution, coverage, and market intelligence — a self-reinforcing cycle.
Change requires action across several fronts: Private investors and platforms can fund production, services, distribution, and paid training.
Development finance institutions and foundations can support training, early development, and multi-year initiatives where commercial investment won’t go.
National governments set daily operating realities through permits, tax policies, co-production agreements, and clear regulations. Continental bodies coordinate policies, ease movement, and support cross-border cooperation.
For the full report and more exclusive African screen sector analysis and insights — including all year-end 2025 newsletters thus far — subscribe now (7-day free trial and localized pricing available in select markets): https://akoroko.com/localpricing/
I want to bring my film to you, it’s a short film.
Good work. Continue supporting African stories.