The Académie des César has unveiled its preselection for the Best Short Film category at the 2026 ceremony. Among the standout entries are several French-African co-productions exploring themes of resistance, identity, and state violence. From Simon Panay’s Senegal-shot “L’Enfant à la Peau Blanche” to Mohamed Bourouissa’s deconstruction of police stops in “Généalogie de la Violence,” […]
Tag: African Cinema
Pathé Touch Afrique Launches “Rumba Royale” | New African Co-Production
“Rumba Royale” — Official Trailer Out Now. Pathé’s First Major Co-Production Under Its New African Arm Tests Evolving Business Model Set in Léopoldville (now Kinshasa) in 1959, “Rumba Royale” follows a photographer drawn into the city’s most exclusive nightclub as Congo approaches independence. Inside the club, music, politics, and desire collide, with rumba mirroring the tensions of […]
Marrakech’s Atlas Workshops Unveil 2025 Lineup With New Structure in Action
The Marrakech International Film Festival, held each year in Marrakech, Morocco, has announced the 28 projects and films selected for the 8th edition of the Atlas Workshops, which will take place from November 30 to December 4 during the festival’s 22nd edition (November 28–December 6, 2025). Romanian filmmaker Cristian Mungiu, winner of the Cannes Film […]
Miguel Eek’s Amílcar: Trailer Drops Ahead of IDFA World Premiere
The trailer has dropped for Miguel Eek’s Amílcar, a poetic documentary about revolutionary leader Amílcar Cabral, ahead of its world premiere at IDFA 2025 in the festival’s Envision Competition. Produced by Mosaic Producciones and co-produced across France, Portugal, Sweden, and Cape Verde, the film reimagines Cabral’s voice through his writings, poems, and letters—blending unpublished archives, […]
Africa in the 2026 Oscars Race: Madagascar’s First-ever Submission and Uganda’s Second
Two new countries have joined the 2026 Oscars race, adding fresh energy to Africa’s growing presence in the Best International Feature Film category. Madagascar makes its first-ever submission with “Disco Afrika: A Malagasy Story” by Luck Razanajaona. Distributed by Claire Diao’s Sudu Connexion, the film caps years of steady growth in Madagascar’s screen ecosystem, including […]
African Film and Media Power Shift: Q3 2025 Assessment
By the numbers, Q3 was the most active quarter of 2025 so far for Africa’s screen ecosystems: new creative funds across countries, including Botswana and Mozambique; increasing State-backed industry initiatives like Egypt’s ongoing revival; initial pan-African, regional, and country-specific creative sector reports; broader visibility for African filmmaking globally; and much more. By structure, though, it […]
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 […]
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.
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. […]
Akoroko Joins Wikipedia Edit-a-thon to Strengthen Digital Visibility of African Cinema
In 2024, I covered the launch of a new initiative designed to improve and expand Wikipedia’s coverage of African film and television, a gap that continues to limit how African cinemas are documented, referenced, and globally accessed. That initial campaign, tied to FESPACO and powered by The Africa Narrative and the Wikimedia Foundation, was the start […]