FILM AFRICA 2026 Celebrates Women Filmmakers at BFI Southbank

Film Africa 2026 is underway in London, running from 23 October to 1 November. This year's edition puts an unusually strong focus on the women shaping African cinema, from a new generation of directors attracting international attention to the pioneers whose work helped make that generation possible. Film Africa is the Royal African Society's festival of African and diaspora cinema, and this year's edition falls during the Society's 125th anniversary year.

A major programme highlight was TWENDE: African Women and Cinema, a half-day symposium held at BFI Southbank on 24 October, celebrating the contribution of African women filmmakers while examining the histories, practices and future of women's filmmaking across Africa and its diaspora. The symposium brought together filmmakers, producers, curators, archivists, scholars and cultural practitioners for conversations about authorship, representation, production, preservation and the future of African cinema.

Film Africa's curator, Keith Shiri, can speak about the impact that the women featured throughout the festival have had, and are having, on the African cinema landscape, and whether the industry itself is changing sufficiently to sustain that creative momentum. He can also speak about the pioneering women who opened doors; the new generation changing who gets to tell African stories and how they are told; and the continuing questions around financing, distribution, archives and international access that determine whose work ultimately reaches audiences.

Key Films & Directors

The festival opened at BFI Southbank on 23 October with BEN'IMANA, from Rwandan filmmaker Marie-Clémentine Dusabejambo, who became the first Rwandan filmmaker to premiere in Cannes' Official Selection and won the Caméra d'Or this year.

It closes, also at BFI Southbank, on 1 November with LADY, Nigerian-born, London-based director Olive Nwosu's portrait of a female Lagos cab driver drawn into the world of a collective of sex workers. LADY premiered at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival in January, winning the World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award for Acting Ensemble.

French film highlights focus on a special retrospective and screening events hosted at Ciné Lumière at the Institut Français, celebrating Tunisian filmmaker, critic and historian Férid Boughedir.

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