The Berlinale Co-Production Market has announced the 35 feature film projects selected for its 23rd edition, taking place February 14–17, 2026, during the Berlin International Film Festival. Out of the 35 selected, the Berlinale Co-Production Market 2026 African projects include: Sudan’s “Blue Card” and Cameroon’s “Claude” — representing two countries that are seeing a recent increase in participation in high-level international development and co-production platforms like this one.
“Blue Card”: Producer Mohammed Alomda’s Directorial Leap
Mohammed Alomda spent more than a decade working in Sudanese cinema as a producer and technical collaborator before now shifting gears to direct his own feature, “Blue card.” He co-founded Station Films with Amjad Abu Alala, establishing one of Sudan’s first contemporary feature-film production companies.
The project has already received €40,000 in support from the Berlinale World Cinema Fund in October 2025. Set within Sudanese refugee communities in Cairo, Egypt, “Blue Card” extends Station Films’ body of work examining Sudanese life shaped by displacement and prolonged political instability.
Alomda’s producing credits include key titles:
- “You Will Die at Twenty” (2019), directed by Amjad Abu Alala, premiered in Venice, where it won the Lion of the Future; Sudan’s first Academy Awards submission.
- “Goodbye Julia” (2023), directed by Mohamed Kordofani — the first Sudanese feature selected for Cannes; winner of the Freedom Prize.
- “The Burdened” (2023), directed by Amr Gamal — selected for Berlinale; Yemen’s Academy Awards submission.
With projects like these, Station Films has played a central role in reviving contemporary Sudanese feature filmmaking after a gap of roughly two decades, a period shaped by prolonged civil war, state censorship, and the collapse of film institutions, with “You Will Die at Twenty” as one of fewer than ten Sudanese narrative feature films produced since independence in 1956.
“Claude”: Narcisse Wandji Brings Cameroonian Social Realism
Narcisse Wandji, director of “Claude,” is a Cameroonian filmmaker and festival programmer who works across film production and institutional activity. He serves as Artistic Director of the Écrans Noirs Film Festival in Yaoundé (one of the country’s oldest, most prominent film industry events) and was among the founders of the Mis Me Binga (“Eyes of Women”) International Women’s Film Festival, a Central African platform dedicated to women filmmakers.
“Claude,” Wandji’s third narrative feature, is set in Yaoundé and follows a widowed hairdresser who, after discovering that 500,000 CFA francs from her tontine (community) savings are missing, suspects her 12-year-old son. To discipline him, she arranges for a police officer to detain the boy overnight without filing a formal complaint. When she returns the next morning, her son has disappeared.
The film is produced by Les Films d’Ebène, a Cameroonian company founded and run by Evodie N. Ngueyeli, a Berlinale Talents alumna (2018, 2022). Les Films d’Ebène previously produced Wandji’s feature “Bendskins” (2021) and “Sadrack” (2023), both of which circulated widely on the African festival circuit.
Broader Festival Context
Beyond the two African projects in selection, Morocco receives spotlight treatment as the European Film Market’s “Country in Focus” for 2026 — featuring curated pitching sessions and networking events spotlighting Moroccan co-production potential.
Berlinale describes the North African nation as “one of the most dynamic creative countries in the MENA region.”
In September, Sata Cissokho was appointed to lead the World Cinema Fund after Vincenzo Bugno’s 21-year tenure.
The European Film Market launched a three-year distribution training program for African professionals and continued individual filmmaker support via the World Cinema Fund, emerging talent development at the Talent Project Market, and country-level promotion via EFM spotlights.
This institutional attention complements the film project-level African presence, operating on multiple festival tracks (Generation, Panorama, Panorama Dokumente).
The 76th Berlin International Film Festival will take place from February 12 to 22, 2026, with the European Film Market running concurrently from February 12-18.
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