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The full schedule for the Marché du Film 2026 programme, which runs May 12–20 alongside the Cannes Film Festival, went live today. Among the over 250 industry events published across the full schedule, African participation includes sessions covering film business, producer networking, financing, and production services. Here are the sessions by day. Note that the published schedule currently does not include full descriptions or speaker details for every event. **May 13 — Focus on Africa** A film business conference, The Viewpoint, Léron, presented by NIFS at Cannes in association with TransPerfect Media, Nile Media Group, CACOP, and Animax FIB Studios. The combination of those five organisations puts Nollywood distribution infrastructure, West African animation, global post-production services, and a pitching platform for African projects in the same conversation. **May 14 — Producers Network: WIF Africa / WIFT Africa Delegation** Women in Film Los Angeles (WIFLA) and Women in Film and Television Africa (WIFT Africa) are presenting sponsors of the Producers Network at the Marché du Film and have also invited five established African women producers to participate across six days of programming: Shirley Frimpong-Manso (Ghana), Nicolette Ndigwe Kalu (Nigeria), Beywangondu Nkenya, Bonyiwe Solani (South Africa), and Alexandra Amon (Côte d’Ivoire). Dr. Inya Lawal is president of WIFT Africa. **Impact: Producing the Future — Innovative Financing Models for African Cinema** The panel brings together a continental documentary fund, a Pan-African institutional financier, and an East African producer-entrepreneur working on sustainable creative ecosystems. Together, they capture project financing and the longer-term business conditions needed for screen activity to continue and expand. **Producers Network: Financing African Film for Impact — Muganga Case Study** Presented by CanX Creations, the session uses *Muganga (The One Who Treats)* as its case study. Directed by Marie-Hélène Roux and starring Isaac de Bankolé as Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Dr. Denis Mukwege — the Congolese surgeon who has treated over 80,000 survivors of sexual violence in the Eastern DRC — the film was executive produced by Angelina Jolie, co-financed by CanX alongside Canal+, France 3 Cinéma, France Télévisions, CNC, and others, won three awards at the Angoulême Francophone Film Festival, and is handled by WME Independent for world sales. **May 14–17 — Arab Cinema Center Sessions** Sessions scheduled across four days cover commercial production, co-production, women in leadership, and industry growth across the Arab world. The sessions are not broken down by country, so it is difficult to say with precision which nations will be in the room. Based on past editions, North African and broader Arab-African participation in these conversations is typical. **Outside the official schedule — Yetu Unlimited** Two additional conference events connected to the Pan-African film studio Yetu Unlimited are scheduled for May 14 and 15, outside the official Marché conference pages. On **May 14**, the Nomadic Film Space networking lunch takes place at La Plage de Palme from 11:30 to 13:30. Sponsored by France’s CNC and other institutional partners, it brings together a select group of producers and financiers for a moderated conversation about what smart and impactful investment looks like across African screen sectors. On **May 15**, the African and Diasporic Audience Development Think Tank takes place at Hotel Canopy from 10:00 to 12:00, by invitation only, with the support of the International Emerging Film Talent Foundation (IEFTF), an Athens-based non-profit that funds grants to emerging filmmakers via partner festivals and programmes. It is the second iteration of a travelling workshop initiated in 2025, with a pilot edition held at Mostra de Cinemas Africanos in Salvador, Brazil. The workshop combines market research with audience design methods intended to grow revenue-generating audiences for African cinema. The Cannes session will present findings from the Brazil pilot and outline the platform’s future direction. Yetu Unlimited was founded in 2023 by Yanis Gueye, Melissa Adeyemo, Carol Kiyoko, Ike Yemo, and Chloé Ordolé. The company has links to LocarnoPro’s Open Doors Africa initiative and the West Africa Focus Bakumam Incubator. I will be at Cannes with African Film Press East Africa partner Jennifer Ochieng of Cinema Focus, splitting duties across the festival and marché as needed and capturing as much of the above activity as possible. If you are heading to Cannes and want to connect, feel free to reach out.
