The Silicon Valley African Film Festival (SVAFF) returns from October 9 to 12, 2025, in San Jose, California, for its 16th edition. Founded in 2009 by Chike C. Nwoffiah, it is the Bay Area’s only dedicated African film event, connecting African and diaspora filmmakers with local audiences, including San Jose’s African diaspora community and Silicon […]
Category: The Latest
African Film and the Wikipedia Problem
In late July, I wrote about Akoroko’s role in the AfroCreatives WikiProject+film campaign—an effort organized by The Africa Narrative and the Wikimedia Foundation to improve Wikipedia coverage of African cinema. African Film Press (AFP)—the editorial alliance that includes Akoroko, Sinema Focus, and What Kept Me Up—is participating as a strategic partner. What follows is a reflection […]
The Long Game: Akin Omotoso’s Career Bridging African Cinema’s Past and Streaming’s Future
With “Marked” now streaming on Netflix, after a July 31, 2025, premiere, viewers are encountering Akin Omotoso in full command of his craft. This filmmaker has spent nearly three decades developing a methodical approach to genre storytelling while distribution models, production ecosystems, and platform access shifted around him. The heist series, which Omotoso co-created, creative […]
Inside the First Year of Locarno’s Open Doors Africa Cycle
The 78th Locarno Film Festival runs from August 6 to 16, 2025, in Locarno, Switzerland. As part of this year’s edition, the festival launches the first installment of its four-year Africa-focused Open Doors cycle (2025–2028), a program structured around co-production support, producer development, curated screenings, and artist residencies for filmmakers from 42 African countries. The […]
TIFF at 50: Tracking African and Diaspora Films Selected for 2025 Edition
The 50th Toronto International Film Festival is shaping up fast. Akoroko is tracking all African and diaspora titles selected so far, and what they tell us. Audio version available. Full dispatch and more recent market intelligence via Akoroko Premium 7-day free trial → https://akoroko.com/localpricing/ Localized pricing now live in several African and Caribbean countries.
The Nigeria–Brazil Cinema Link Ola Balogun Built
On June 24, 2025, Nigeria and Brazil signed their first official co-production treaty for film, television, and digital content. Akoroko covered the announcement in real time and published a detailed breakdown of what the agreement could mean, and what still hasn’t been put in place. Subsequently, I found myself wondering not just about its future […]
Tracking 300+ African Feature Projects in Development (2022-2025)
The Akoroko project tracking database now holds 300+ African and diaspora feature films in development, captured since 2022. Premium subscribers received a snapshot (just 50 of them) as of July 2025. It’s a glimpse into a growing pipeline of African feature films at various stages: from early script development to financing, production, post, festival positioning, […]
Why I’m Still Tracking Côte d’Ivoire’s Box Office
Prefer to listen? This newsletter is now available in AI-generated audio. (5 minutes) Côte d’Ivoire is one of very few countries on the African continent—Francophone or otherwise—that has started to make its box office data accessible in a direct, consistent format. That’s why I’ve continued covering it. For someone like me who’s actually done the research, even […]
Africa at BlackStar 2025: 20+ Titles, 13 Countries, Shorts, Features, Experimental
More than 20 African and diaspora titles are set to screen at the 2025 edition of BlackStar Film Festival, held in Philadelphia, USA, representing a wide range of regions, genres, and styles. That count includes shorts, features, experimental work, and documentaries, telling stories from Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Ethiopia, and beyond. Several are North American or U.S. premieres. […]
Rethinking African Press Strategy: Legitimacy, Leverage, and Local Control
I have a front-row seat to what I believe is a critical moment in the coverage of African screen (film, TV, digital media) sectors (industries, landscapes, environments, ecosystems, etc., etc., etc.), and I anticipate gradual, and occasionally dramatic shifts in the coming years, particularly from 2025 onwards. I spent nearly four years working at IndieWire, where I gained […]