Author: Tambay A. Obenson

The European Film Market (EFM) is one of the key global film and TV markets. Held alongside the Berlinale, it’s a major hub for film sales, financing, and distribution deals from around the world. Subsequently, the EFM 2025 program offers a snapshot of where African films stand in the global market—and the hurdles they continue […]

It’s one of two recent biographical films about Frantz Fanon, this one directed by Jean-Claude Barny, focusing on his time at the Blida-Joinville Psychiatric Hospital in 1950s Algeria, his groundbreaking methods, and his role in the Algerian independence movement. Alexandre Bouyer plays Fanon, with Déborah François as Josie Fanon, Olivier Gourmet as Darmain, and Stanislas […]

StudioCanal CEO Anna Marsh outlined the company’s future plans earlier this month. This came after a strong 2024, where StudioCanal’s titles grossed nearly $300M globally—up 94% year-on-year. By the way, StudioCanal is a subsidiary of Canal+ and functions as its film and television production and distribution arm. It operates alongside Canal+’s core pay-TV and streaming […]

It is with profound sadness that I share news of Souleymane Cissé passing today, February 19, 2025, in Bamako, Mali, at age 84. His daughter Mariam confirmed his death to Agence France Presse, the news reaching me as I exited a screening at the Berlinale, in Germany. I find myself stunned, recalling with vivid clarity his presence […]

Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù (“His House,” “Gangs of London”) will star in “My Father’s Shadow,” the feature directorial debut of Akinola Davies Jnr. The film is an Element Pictures production in association with Crybaby and Fatherland Productions. Written by Wale Davies and Akinola Davies Jnr, the project follows their previous collaboration on the short film “Lizard,” which […]

Premiering on TV5MONDE on February 9, 2025, “African Glory”, directed by Thierry Bugaud, explores the 13th-century voyage of Aboubakari II, the Malian emperor who, according to some accounts, sailed across the Atlantic nearly 180 years before Columbus. The film follows Aboubakari II’s decision to abdicate his throne and set sail with a fleet of 2,000 […]

Cartooning Under Idi Amin’s Rule: New Documentary Revisits Uganda’s Hidden Satirists. “The Tongue Turns To The Aching Tooth,” directed by Dutch filmmaker Michiel van Oosterhout, follows three veteran cartoonists—John Jones Salongo Sserwanga, James Tumusiime, and Willy Ochaya—who used satire in Uganda’s newspapers during the 1970s. Few Ugandans today know the names of those behind the […]

Almost a year after orchestrating its first official theatrical release across Francophone Africa, pan-African sales and film distribution company Sudu Connexion has brought Kenyan filmmaker Angela Wanjiku Wamai’s acclaimed feature debut “Shimoni” to French theaters. The French theatrical run, which began January 23, 2025, at Paris’s Espace Saint-Michel, has been carefully unveiled across multiple venues […]

France’s leading ad-supported streaming service (with a premium subscription tier), TF1+, has plans to expand into Africa in 2025 as part of the company’s ongoing international growth strategy. Launched in January 2024 to replace the MyTF1 streaming service, TF1+ is fully owned by the TF1 Group, itself majority-owned by the Bouygues Group, a French multinational […]

The Césars are France’s national film awards, often compared to the American Academy Awards (Oscars), recognizing achievements in French cinema. Among the nominees this year are two feature films that center African stories and talent. Akoroko Premium subscribers received a newsletter on the nominations, along with recent historical context on African/diaspora engagements with the César […]