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The Centre du Cinéma et de l'Audiovisuel (CCA), the public institution that funds and promotes film and audiovisual production in French-speaking Belgium, formerly known as the Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles, recorded several new connections with African countries in 2025, according to its annual report, which I received on April 2nd, 2026. The developments take place against a backdrop of growing, if still modest, engagement between the CCA and African film markets that Akoroko has tracked over the last two years. ## The Côte d'Ivoire Treaty The most concrete development in the 2025 report is the formal signing of a bilateral co-production treaty with Côte d'Ivoire, one of three new international agreements the CCA finalized during the year, alongside Lebanon and Colombia. The signing took place on June 27th, 2025, during the closing day of Abidjan's Salon International du Contenu Audiovisuel (SICA), and Akoroko covered both the signing and the full 14-page treaty text when it was subsequently released. The agreement gives officially approved co-productions the status of national works in both countries, allowing them to access public film funds on both sides, qualify for local content designations, and benefit from Belgium's federal tax shelter scheme. Four Ivorian projects had already been approved for financing under the treaty at the time the text was released, though the development status of each title has not been publicly disclosed. The agreement was captured in yesterday's dispatch, which mapped African co-production agreements. For Côte d'Ivoire, it becomes the second European formal co-production structure with the country. France is the other. ## Africa Elsewhere in the Report: Benin, DRC, Tunisia Beyond Côte d'Ivoire, the 2025 report documents two other African countries in earlier stages of engagement. Negotiations toward a co-production agreement with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are described as ongoing, and the CCA is conducting exploratory analysis of a potential agreement with Benin. Neither has been finalized. At the regional level, the CCA's participation in the Réseau des partenaires francophones, a network of French-language film funding bodies, led to a new initiative in 2025 specifically designed for film professionals from Francophone Africa. The network developed a proposed support system intended to replace a previous fund for young Francophone creators, designed to develop skills for writers and producers and to encourage their access to international markets. The CCA is developing the project jointly with Wallonie-Bruxelles International, the body that manages the Federation's international relations. It is expected to be operational in 2026. The report also notes a notable increase in official co-productions between Belgium and Tunisia in 2025, alongside increases with Italy and Switzerland, though it flags these figures as preliminary pending confirmation in future years. ## Broader Context The Africa-facing activity in the 2025 report isn't without a foundation. The CCA's Cinema Commission has, in recent years, funded African and African diaspora projects, including production and development support for Moroccan, Senegalese, Congolese, Burkinabe, Malagasy, and Algerian titles in its first 2024 session alone. And for the 2024 Academy Awards, Belgium selected Omen, Augure, as its official submission in the International Feature Film category. Directed by Belgian-Congolese multidisciplinary artist Baloji, the film is a magical realist drama set between Belgium and the DRC. It was produced by Wrong Men, supported by the CCA among other funders, and premiered in Un Certain Regard at Cannes, where it won the New Voice award. The Côte d'Ivoire treaty, the DRC and Benin engagements, and the forthcoming Francophone Africa support program together suggest the CCA is gradually moving toward a more structured relationship with the continent, beyond the project-by-project connections that have characterized activity in recent years.
