NI CHAÎNES NI MAÎTRES (NO CHAINS NO MASTERS), the much-anticipated directorial debut of award-winning French-Beninese screenwriter Simon Moutaïrou, received a simultaneous theatrical release in France and Mauritius on September 18, 2024, courtesy of StudioCanal. The film’s potential for wider international distribution is unknown. However, given that StudioCanal, a subsidiary of the Canal+ Group, is behind […]
Author: Tambay A. Obenson
The Misconception of “Making It”: African Filmmakers at International Film Festivals and the Struggle for Recognition
I’m writing this in the thick of awards season film festival coverage, with Venice and Toronto now behind us. My experiences during this relentless whirlwind of events reminded me of a persistent problem. The journey of African filmmakers through the labyrinth of major international film festivals is a route fraught with expectations and missed opportunities. […]
Cinematic Cartography: What Portrait of Africa Emerges Through the Lens of 2024’s Major Film Festivals?
With Toronto wrapping up as the last of the “Big 5” festivals and the majority of film festivals behind us, it’s safe to say that, at this point in the year, we’ve seen the bulk of the films that the film world will be discussing for the remainder of this year and into early 2025. […]
African Filmmakers Speak: Navigating the Realities of International Streaming Platforms
As streaming increasingly becomes the dominant form of content consumption across Africa, a September 11, 2024, virtual pan-African roundtable, hosted by Lagos, Nigeria-based Creative Economy Practice at Co-Creation Hub (CcHUB), offered listeners (including myself) a valuable perspective on the “Africa streaming story.” Unlike typical media coverage that often focuses on the viewpoints of executives at […]
FREEDOM WAY (TIFF Review): An Ambitious, Visually Captivating, Yet Narratively Uneven Journey Through Lagos
“Freedom Way,” the feature debut from Nigerian filmmaker Afolabi Olalekan, from a script penned by Blessing Uzzi, who also produces, is making its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in the Discovery section. It’s a multifaceted exploration of corruption and socioeconomic challenges in contemporary Lagos. The film intertwines several storylines centered around a rideshare app startup called […]
African Film Financing Case Studies: Insights from the MIP Africa Financing Forum
I hosted a session on African film financing during the third edition of FAME Week / MIP Africa last week in Cape Town, South Africa. Titled “Bridging the Gap: Financing Africa’s Creative Future,” it brought together experts from various sectors of filmmaking and finance to explore the landscape of film financing within the continent, although […]
Film Reviews and Interviews from Venice and Toronto
Venice and Toronto Reviews: More film reviews from Venice and Toronto received by subscribers with more on the way… For the full reviews and interviews, please subscribe here: https://akoroko.com/subscribe/ [I also interviewed the filmmaker collective behind the film] Subscribe at the link: https://akoroko.com/subscribe/
Tracing the Eras of African Cinema (One Perspective)
Tracing the Eras of African Cinema (One Perspective): Painting with broad strokes to start, breaking down African cinema into distinct periods, we can begin to better understand its role in mirroring and shaping the continent’s cultural landscape. It’s more accurate to view these eras as broad trends rather than strict categories, each building upon and […]
Toronto International Film Festival Trailer: “The Legend of the Vagabond Queen of Lagos”
Toronto International Film Festival Trailer Trailer: “The Legend of the Vagabond Queen of Lagos” | Agbajowo Collective | Nigeria/Germany/South Africa/USA | World Premiere This debut blends thriller elements with magical realism to critique unchecked urban development and forced evictions in Lagos, Africa’s largest city. Starring Temi Ami-Williams, the film is rooted in real events, specifically the violent […]
How Have Netflix’s Top 2024 African and Diaspora Original Releases Performed? (Part 2)
Yesterday at MIP Africa, Netflix’s VP of Content for the Middle East and Africa (Netflix Africa) Ben Amadasun, was on hand for an hour-long conversation with a packed house of eager listeners. During the talk, Amadasun said that African titles are very popular in the Caribbean: “From the data we see, there’s a lot of […]