Category: The Latest

Senegal’s national film fund FOPICA has released results from its 2023 funding cycle: – 49 projects selected. 1.2 billion FCFA (~ $2.1 million) awarded. It’s the most detailed accounting in years, covering feature films, shorts, docs, series, festivals, and training programs. But the bigger story is about reliability. Akoroko looks at what this round might […]

Nigeria’s new Creative Economy Development Fund (CEDF) is now open—but it’s not what most creative workers likely think. For most filmmakers, musicians, designers, and writers working independently, this won’t finance your next project, if that’s what you’re hoping for. This is formal, investment-style funding. It’s designed for a small, structurally and fiscally organized segment of […]

“Sinners” landed across African theaters with a coordinated push. “Saloum” had festival acclaim, genre storytelling, and commercial appeal, but traveled a harder road. Both films root horror in real histories, real geographies, and real memories. This isn’t about competition, but connecting them across a shared struggle. Not a fight between films; a cross-continental conversation about […]

The official first anniversary of Akoroko Premium is TODAY—April 28, 2025. This wouldn’t exist without those who continue to subscribe, kept reading, suggesting, questioning, sticking around, and even those who canceled, particularly those who canceled and came back! Akoroko itself launched in April 2022. Two years later, in April 2024, the subscription, Akoroko Premium, went live. One […]

Produced through African Screen Intelligence (ASI), this new report tracks the financing behind every African narrative selected for Cannes 2025—across Competition, Un Certain Regard, Directors’ Fortnight, and ACID. It includes: – Disclosed budgets where available – Estimated ranges where needed – Source tracking across grants, co-productions, broadcasters, and post-production funds – More… This is part […]

The Academy’s new eligibility rules are official, including stricter theatrical requirements for Best Picture, as well as tweaks to sound, shorts, and animation categories. But for African films and filmmakers, nothing really fundamental shifts. More of a reassertion of what has always defined Oscar inclusion: power, positioning, and platforms. A new Akoroko Premium “News Brief” […]

NollywoodWeek, France, 2025: Before heading to the Cannes Film Festival, from May 7–11, Akoroko and What Kept Me Up will be on the ground in Paris covering Nollywoodweek 2025 (rebranding as NOW! to reflect its pan-African ambitions). I’ll also be moderating a conversation as part of the program. Full newsletter reports available in both text […]

A24 launched the U.S. theatrical release of Rungano Nyoni’s sophomore feature “On Becoming a Guinea Fowl” on March 7, 2025. The film is now available as a streaming rental on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, Google Play, and YouTube. I had hoped for a much longer, one-on-one conversation with Rungano Nyoni when I pitched this […]

Netflix’s latest earnings report is out. Africa entirely absent. No surprise. Akoroko’s analysis tracks Q1 shareholder letter, full earnings call, and EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa) financials to assess what’s changed and what hasn’t. The results are familiar: – Estimated Africa revenue for the quarter: ~$30–45 million– No signs of platform expansion– Focus remains on […]

Akoroko covered this year’s edition of Visions du Réel in Nyon, Switzerland (April 4 to 13), dispatching reviews for five of the six African films selected to screen there—primarily world premieres! Our on-the-ground assessment affirms that the films formed a shared logic: – Grounded in place– Unconcerned with translating trauma– Hybrid, medium-length, formally quiet To […]