Category: The Latest

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 […]

Kitale Film Week, entering its third year in 2025, is not just a film festival—it’s the foundation for a transformative vision to turn Kitale, the Western Kenyan town, into a creative hub for African storytelling. Founded in 2023 by Peter Pages Bwire, the initiative celebrates underrepresented voices, nurtures local talent, and promotes a new culture […]

Sundance Film Festival Reviews of African Films Selected…there weren’t that many. The documentary form’s increasing presence in the African context is worth highlighting, as seen in Sundance’s 2025 selections. “How to Build a Library” examines the present-day transformation of a colonial institution in Kenya, while “Khartoum” captures the first-hand experiences of Sudan’s ongoing conflict. In the NEXT […]

The European Union (EU) has announced financial support of over 195 million CFA francs (~$310,000) for the upcoming 29th edition of the Pan-African Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou (FESPACO), scheduled for February 22 to March 1, 2025. EU Ambassador Daniel Aristi Gaztelumendi made the announcement during a January 20 meeting with Burkina Faso’s Minister […]