Mapping the Money: What Africa’s Film and Television Financing Landscape Actually Looks Like

African Film Press (AFP) has been building what we believe is the most comprehensive map of financing instruments for film and television operating on the African continent — all of them: national government funds, Pan-African equity vehicles, broadcaster-backed programs, festival-embedded labs, bilateral co-production mechanisms, and regional bodies that are currently, verifiably, putting money into film and television production in Africa.

The count currently stands at 35. Before you read anything into that number, let me say plainly that the financing ecosystem documented here, despite being continent-based, represents a formal layer that most working African filmmakers will likely never access — for any number of reasons, whether it be selection criteria or judgment calls made by filmmakers and producers themselves.