Rising Watchlist™: Samuel Udeh, the Art Director Who Understands That Belief Is Built
The Rising Watchlist has spent 2026 tracking directors, actors and producers. This week it turns to a craft the trade press almost…
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South Africa’s Parliament Has Summoned Canal+. The French Giant Promised the Country Things to Win MultiChoice — Now the Politicians Want to Know Why Showmax Is Dead and the Commissions Are Frozen.
South Africa's Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Communications has summoned Canal+ to answer for the Showmax shutdown, frozen commissions, and its compliance with the public-interest commitments it made to…
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Umthetho Arrives August 14. The Showmax That Shut Down Would Have Made This. Instead Netflix Did — and the Symbolism Is Not Lost on South Africa.
Umthetho — an eight-episode South African crime drama, a local adaptation of the Brazilian Netflix hit Brotherhood — premieres on Netflix on…
AnalysisAll Analysis
Netflix Licenses the Winners. Canal+ Signs the Proven. Amazon Backed Osiberu After The Black Book. A Pattern Has Hardened Across Every Platform — and It Is Quietly Deciding Who Gets to Make African Films.
Netflix licenses films that already succeeded theatrically. Canal+ signs studios with proven hits like The Black Book. Amazon's…
Nollywood’s First Half of 2026 Made ₦1.665 Billion From Its Top Seven Films. In 2025 It Was ₦1.77 Billion. The Industry Is Holding Steady — and Holding Steady Is the Problem.
The top seven Nollywood films of the first half of 2026 grossed a cumulative ₦1.665 billion. The top…
Umthetho Arrives August 14. The Showmax That Shut Down Would Have Made This. Instead Netflix Did — and the Symbolism Is Not Lost on South Africa.
Umthetho — an eight-episode South African crime drama, a local adaptation of the Brazilian Netflix hit Brotherhood —…
Featured Interview
Jáde Osiberu. It Took Her Three Years to Raise ₦45 Million for Isoken. Five Years Later She Signed the First Amazon Deal in Africa. She Wants Younger Filmmakers to Know the Sowing Season Is Supposed to Hurt.
Jáde Osiberu made Isoken in 2017. It took her almost three years to raise the ₦45 million to produce it, flying blind through a distribution system nobody would explain to…
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Rising Watchlist™Full Watchlist
Roll Call Africa's quarterly tracker of African film and television talent with demonstrably upward trajectories.
Rising Watchlist™: Samuel Udeh, the Art Director Who Understands That Belief Is Built
Art Director · Nigeria
The Rising Watchlist has spent 2026 tracking directors, actors and producers. This week it turns to a craft the trade press almost…
Rising Watchlist™: Damilola Orimogunje. He Just Became the First Nigerian Director to Compete at Venice Days. His Quiet, Precise Cinema Is the Answer to Everything Loud About Nollywood.
Director · Nigeria
Damilola Orimogunje just made history as the first Nigerian director to compete at Venice Days, with his sophomore feature Dear Ajayi. His…
Rising Watchlist™: The Critics Company. The Teenage VFX Collective From Kaduna That Taught Itself Filmmaking on YouTube Just Landed at Locarno. Remember the Name.
Film
The Critics Company — the young Nigerian filmmaking and VFX collective from Kaduna that famously taught itself special effects from YouTube tutorials,…
Festivals & AwardsFull Calendar
Dear Ajayi Is the First Nigerian Film to Compete at Venice Days. Two Estranged Sisters, a Paralysed Mother, and a Nigeria-Germany Co-Production Just Made History on the Lido.
6 August 2026
Damilola Orimogunje's second feature, Dear Ajayi, will world-premiere in competition at the 23rd Giornate degli…
Venice Opens September 2 With African Films Spread Across Every Section. A Cameroonian Debut in Orizzonti, Four Projects at the Gap-Financing Market — the Continent Is No Longer a Guest at the Lido.
3 August 2026
The 83rd Venice International Film Festival runs September 2-12, and African filmmakers have secured places…
Toronto Runs September 7-18, and African Cinema Is There in Force. From Apartheid-Era Dramas to Novel Adaptations, the Continent’s Festival Autumn Has a Second Front.
3 August 2026
The Toronto International Film Festival runs September 7-18, overlapping with Venice, and African cinema has…
Ben’Imana Won the Caméra d’Or. Congo Boy’s Street-Cast Teenager Won Best Actor. On the Most Eurocentric Night in Cinema, African Film Refused to Leave Empty-Handed.
29 May 2026
The 79th Cannes Film Festival closed on May 23. Cristian Mungiu's Fjord took the Palme…
DIFF at 47: Africa’s Oldest Film Festival Arrives at Its Most Consequential Edition Yet
4 May 2026
The 47th Durban International Film Festival runs July 23 to August 2, 2026. Africa's oldest…
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