{"id":39037,"date":"2026-04-28T16:10:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T20:10:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hunterword.com\/?p=39037"},"modified":"2026-04-28T16:55:06","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T20:55:06","slug":"new-york-african-film-festival-2026-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/hunterword.com\/index.php\/new-york-african-film-festival-2026-part-1\/","title":{"rendered":"The 33rd New York African Film Festival \u2013 Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The U.S. Premiere of Irene Tassembedo\u2019s prize-winning La Travers\u00e9e<\/span> is the opening night selection at Maysles Documentary Center.<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"The 33rd New York African Film Festival (NYAFF) will be a month-long cinematic celebration unfolding across New York City throughout May, illuminating stories, histories and visions from Africa and its diasporas.<\/p>\n

Spanning theaters, cultural centers, and public spaces, the festival will present more than 100 films from over 30 countries across Africa and its Diasporas. The lineup includes more than 50 feature films and 60 shorts, with many filmmakers in attendance for post-screening conversations. NYAFF is co-presented by the Africa Center, Film at Lincoln Center (FLC), the Maysles Documentary Center, BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music) and New York City Parks Department.<\/p>\n

Through this year\u2019s theme, \u201cAs the Stars Sow the Earth,\u201d the festival celebrates cosmic agents that have sown memory, will, and possibility into Africa and its Diasporas, foregrounding Africa\u2019s long-exploited natural resources while tracing a lineage of leaders and artists who imagine alternative relationships to the Earth. This cosmology resonates with the global rise of independent filmmaking, as directors working from historically underrepresented and underfunded regions use the moving image to reckon with the afterlives of colonialism while sustaining transnational and ecological connections. The 33rd New York African Film Festival affirms that Africa and its Diasporas, as a mobile and resilient geography, people, and idea, have been granted the wisdom, memory, and invention necessary to build sovereign futures.<\/p>\n

\u201cAcross this year\u2019s selection, filmmakers are reimagining the landscapes we inherit\u2014drawing from ancestral wisdom not as something to leave behind, but as a source of renewal and possibility,\u201d said Mahen Bonetti, founder and Executive Director of AFF. \u201cMany of the directors, including a strong group making their first features, open new ways of seeing, rooted in land, spirit, and the worlds we share. In these films, what sustains us becomes a kind of wealth, guiding how we envision and shape futures on our own terms. Together, they offer glimpses of brighter horizons, reminding us that even in difficult times, life takes root in surprising and extraordinary ways.\u201d<\/p>\n

The festival kicks off May 1 at 6:30 p.m. at the Africa Center with a Town Hall forum centered on the theme of \u201cBlack Space\u201d \u2014 the ongoing transformation of social and physical environments by Black communities toward liberatory futures. Through performances, reflections and conversations, the program will explore how these spaces are forged and sustained, and how ancestral memory, spiritual cosmologies and creative practice shape African and diasporic worlds. Bringing together cultural workers across visual art, land stewardship, and performance, the Town Hall sets the tone for the festival\u2019s broader theme, As the Stars Sow the Earth, which examines how Black communities transform displacement, ecological degradation and historical rupture into sites of possibility.
\nPanelists and the moderator will be announced at a later date.<\/p>\n

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Promised Sky<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

On Wednesday, May 6 at 6:30pm, NYAFF holds its Opening Night celebration at FLC featuring the New York premiere of Erige Sehiri\u2019s Promised Sky, a bittersweet drama following an Ivorian pastor living in Tunisia, forming a makeshift family with the young women who find refuge in her home. The film opened the 2025 Cannes Un Certain Regard program and features a stellar cast, including C\u00e9sar Award nominee A\u00efssa Ma\u00efga and Laetitia Ky.<\/p>\n

The Centerpiece film, from executive producers Barack and Michelle Obama and Oscar-winning director Ben Proudfoot, is The Eyes of Ghana, following 93-year-old photographer Chris Hesse on a quest to rescue an archive of films that could rewrite history. Closing Night will feature Shorts Program 3: The Art of Protection, including Shiloh Tumo Washington\u2019s Bailey\u2019s Blues; Justice Rutikara\u2019s Ibuka, Justice; Catherine E. McKinley, Mamadou Tapily, and Marc Lesser\u2019s Ke\u00efta La; Aminata Drynie Bockarie\u2019s Where the Water Meets Us; Nimco Sheikhaden\u2019s Exodus; Klein Ongaki\u2019s The Land Smiles Back; Abdelkrim Boughoud\u2019s Eauquation \u2013 Water Distribution at Douiret-Sb\u00e2a; and Marwa Eltahir\u2019s 99 Names: My Liberation Is Tied to Yours.<\/p>\n

Additional highlights include the world premiere of Gabriel Souleyka\u2019s The Soul of Africa, a captivating documentary exploring the origins, resilience, and contemporary relevance of African spiritual traditions; and the North American premiere of Hamed Mobasser and Yohane Dean Lengol\u2019s Rumba Royale, following a young photographer (Congolese rumba star Fally Ipupa) who becomes entangled in the fragile social world of a legendary rumba nightclub in 1959 L\u00e9opoldville.<\/p>\n

Two classic film restorations will have their U.S. premieres: Cam\u00e9ra Arabe, F\u00e9rid Boughedir\u2019s passionate 1987 documentary linking politically engaged Arab cinema from the 1960s onward to major historical events, restored in 4K and followed by a Q&A with Boughedir himself; and a 4K restoration of Paulin Soumanou Vieyra\u2019s 1981 film En r\u00e9sidence surveill\u00e9e, a biting political satire set in a fictional African state where corruption, media control, and forced exile reveal the human cost of unchecked power.<\/p>\n

The festival also features the U.S. premiere of Lace Relations by Anette Baldauf, Chioma Onyenwe, Joana Adesuwa Reiterer, and Katharina Weingartner, a documentary uncovering the history of the textile trade that has intertwined Nigeria and Austria for centuries. Idris Elba\u2019s first short film, Dust to Dreams, about a Lagos nightclub pulsating with aspiring musicians but masking a family drama, is also included in the lineup.<\/p>\n

A special event at FLC will feature F\u00e9rid Boughedir participating in an extended conversation following the screening of his newly restored 1983 film Cam\u00e9ra d\u2019Afrique, inviting audiences into a thoughtful dialogue with one of the defining voices in the history of African cinema.<\/p>\n

NYAFF will allow itself a meta moment as it presents 36 Years at NYAFF Digital Exhibition, a digital exhibition showcasing NYAFF\u2019s archival collection, including never-before-seen interviews, discussions, and photographs with a host of pioneering figures and friends of the festival such as Ousmane Semb\u00e8ne, Safi Faye, Bill Greaves, Sarah Maldoror, Harry Belafonte, Rita Marley, Danny Glover, Wole Soyinka, Miriam Makeba, and Ossie Davis. Photographs will be displayed alongside the digital exhibition, documenting the communities brought together through NYAFF\u2019s programs, parties, and events over the years. The exhibition, which runs in the Amphitheater at FLC\u2019s Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center, reflects the festival\u2019s origins and its continued growth as New York City\u2019s first African film festival.<\/p>\n

At FLC, ticket prices are $19 for the general public; $16 for students, seniors, and persons with disabilities; and $14 for FLC Members. See more and save with a 3+ Film Package ($17 for general public; $14 for students, seniors (62+), and persons with disabilities; and $12 for FLC Members), the $89 All-Access Pass, or the $65 Student All-Access Pass. For tickets, visit: https:\/\/www.filmlinc.org\/. Contact info@africanfilmny.org for information about attending the Opening Night Party.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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A Tribe Called Love<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

The festival takes root in Harlem at Maysles Documentary Center from May 15 to 17 with a showcase of powerful documentaries from the Continent and Diaspora. Opening Night will see the U.S. premiere of Irene Tassembedo\u2019s prize-winning film La Travers\u00e9e (The Crossing), which offers a thoughtful, affecting reflection on migration and the forces \u2014 personal, political and economic \u2014 that shape it. Camille Varenne\u2019s Wolobougou is a moving portrait of midwife Honorine Soma\u2019s fight to expand care, dignity, and autonomy for women in Burkina Faso. In a nod to the festival\u2019s thematic focus, Reclaiming Cocoa lays bare the inequities of extraction while highlighting efforts to protect and restore African resources for local communities.<\/p>\n

Two standout features illuminate extraordinary lives shaped by resistance: Am\u00edlcar, a lyrical portrait of revolutionary thinker Am\u00edlcar Cabral, whose anti-colonial vision transformed Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde, and Miss Jobson, an intimate portrait of the fiercely independent Jamaican lawyer and activist Diane Jobson, Bob Marley\u2019s former attorney, who devoted herself to defending the poor. Thomas Letellier\u2019s documentary Batwing Unmasked: An African Super Hero reveals the story behind Batwing, the groundbreaking DC Comics hero. Together, Record and Until Further Notice trace trans lives in all their complexity \u2014 resilient, vulnerable, self-fashioned \u2014 with Until Further Notice also bearing the weight of ICE and the threat of forced displacement. For tickets, visit https:\/\/www.maysles.org\/.<\/p>\n

NYAFF settles into Brooklyn\u2019s BAM Rose Cinemas from May 22 to May 28 as FilmAfrica, part DanceAfrica 2026, BAM’s longest running program and the nation\u2019s largest celebration of African diasporic dance, music, and culture. Curated by the African Film Festival, this cinematic companion spotlights the culture and artistry of Uganda presenting a showcase of contemporary and classic Pan-African cinema that highlights the continent\u2019s rich storytelling traditions, social movements, and artistic expression.<\/p>\n

At BAM, the selection ranges from foundational works such as Ossie Davis\u2019s 1972 film Black Girl, starring Leslie Uggams, to assured debut features from Olive Nwosu \u2014 the 2026 Sundance Film Festival Special Jury Award for Acting Ensemble winner Lady \u2014 and Suzannah Mirghani\u2019s Thessaloniki FIlm Festival prize-winning film Cotton Queen. The Opening Night film, the New York premiere of Mohamed Ahmed’s A Tribe Called Love, is a modern-day take on the Romeo and Juliet tale set in Toronto with families from two different Somali tribes. Akinola Davies Jr.\u2019s critically acclaimed My Father\u2019s Shadow \u2014 the U.K.\u2019s entry for Best International Feature Film at the 98th Academy Awards \u2014 casts a powerful presence over the program.<\/p>\n

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The lineup also includes a strong slate of Ugandan films, among them Mira Nair\u2019s Mississippi Masala, now celebrating its 35th anniversary; Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine\u2019s Memories of Love Returned, a documentary chronicling his more than two-decade effort to preserve the photographs of master photographer Kibaate Aloysius Ssalongo; Loukman Ali\u2019s taut thriller, The Girl in the Yellow Jumper; and Patience Nitumwesiga\u2019s The Woman Who Poked the Leopard, a documentary about medical anthropologist and LGBTQ rights advocate Dr. Stella Nyanzi, who was jailed for speaking out against state repression. BAM Rose Cinemas is located at 30 Lafayette Avenue. For tickets, visit https:\/\/www.bam.org\/.<\/p>\n

Closing the festival on May 30 at 6:30 p.m. at St. Nicholas Park, the outdoor shorts program Exuberant Jubilance brings together vibrant stories from the African continent and diaspora that celebrate resilience, humor, and collective joy. The lineup includes Rachida El Garani\u2019s Rachid, a sharp and heartfelt portrait of a young Moroccan man navigating the job market; Rhys Aaron Lewis\u2019 Run Like We, a warm coming-of-age story set against the excitement of the 2012 London Olympics; Zo\u00e9 Cauwet\u2019s Le Grand Calao, an intimate and luminous reflection on rest, friendship and freedom in Ouagadougou; Ekwa Msangi\u2019s Soko Sonko, a lively father-daughter comedy set in Kenya; and Kagho Idhebor\u2019s My Jebba Story, a personal visual memoir honoring memory, place and the roots of a storyteller\u2019s journey. Together, these films offer an uplifting close to the festival, inviting audiences to gather outdoors in celebration of community, connection and the richness of Black life across borders.<\/p>\n

The programs of AFF are made possible by the generous support of the National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts, NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Bradley Family Foundation, Color Congress, NYC & Company, The New York Community Trust, French Cultural Services, Manhattan Portage, Organization de la Francophonie, Essentia Water, Ministre du Tourisme R\u00e9publique d\u00e9mocratique du Congo, ZOPMEDIA, South African Consulate General, National Film and Video Foundation, and Motion Picture Enterprises.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The 33rd New York African Film Festival (NYAFF) will be a month-long cinematic celebration unfolding across New York City throughout May, illuminating stories, histories and visions from Africa and its diasporas. Spanning theaters, cultural centers, and public spaces, the festival…<\/p>\n

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