Africa Film Festival 2025: Focus on female directors

From 13 to 15 May 2025, the 2nd Africa Film Festival will take place at DAS KINO Salzburg. The focus this year is on the work of African women directors.

05/08/2025

The African film industry is currently experiencing a remarkable upswing. In Nigeria's dream factory “Nollywood” alone, more than 2,500 films are produced every year. According to the UNESCO report “The African Film Industry”, the industry has the potential to create over 20 million jobs on the continent.

However, women have so far only played a minor role in the African film industry. On average, the proportion of women is 18%, although there are strong regional differences. In the Central African region, which includes countries such as Cameroon, Chad and DR Congo, the proportion of women is less than 10%. By contrast, the situation is much better in the Southern Africa region, which includes countries such as Botswana, Namibia and South Africa. There, the proportion of female employees in the film industry is estimated at over 30%.

African women directors in front of the curtain

The 2nd Africa Film Festival in Salzburg, which is organized by the Afro-Asian Institute, the news agency afrika.info and DAS KINO, is bringing African female filmmakers before the curtain this year. “Female directors from African countries are unjustly overshadowed by their male colleagues,” says Elke Giacomozzi, Managing Director of the Afro-Asian Institute in Salzburg. “Yet African female filmmakers are increasingly able to convince the juries of major film festivals such as Cannes or Berlin with their visionary narrative style and poetic film language.”

Two feature film debuts that stand out in particular are the focus of the Africa Film Festival: The Bride by Rwandan filmmaker Myriam Uwiragiye Birara and Banel & Adama by French-Senegalese director Ramata-Toulaye Sy.