Lady opens and It's the Blackness closes a programme that spans film screenings, industry conversations, masterclasses and the Africa Film & Content Market.
The Africa International Film Festival (AFRIFF) opens in Lagos on November 1, and the two films that bookend it are both first features. The 15th edition is also pitching itself as a place where African film gets financed and sold, not only screened.
Dates, theme and the venue of the announcement
AFRIFF runs from November 1 to 7 under the theme "Frames of the Future: Africa's Creative Intelligence". Organisers say the 2026 edition explores how African storytellers are redefining narratives, embracing emerging technologies and creative formats, and developing business models to finance, produce and distribute their work.
The programme was announced at a press conference at Mikano International headquarters in Victoria Island, Lagos, according to ThisDay.
Opening film: Lady
Lady is the opener. ThisDay and BusinessDay both describe it as the feature debut of Nigerian filmmaker Olive Nwosu. The film is set in Lagos, where a young taxi driver agrees to ferry a group of sex workers on their night-time routes. Among them is a childhood friend she has not seen in years.
BusinessDay's description says the film blends social commentary with an exploration of friendship, sisterhood and resilience. ThisDay's separate report on the programme calls it an African neo-noir.
Lady premiered at this year's Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Special Jury Award for Acting Ensemble in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition, and had its European premiere in the Panorama section of the Berlin International Film Festival in February.
Closing film: It's the Blackness
The festival closes with It's the Blackness, the feature directorial debut of actor Hakeem Kae-Kazim. It is a black comedy-drama with romantic elements, and it follows friends Eniola and Jordan as they deal with personal and family issues and immigration challenges while trying to create a future for themselves.
Dapo Oshiyemi produced it, and ThisDay lists Kalu Ikeagwu and Marcy Dolapo Oni as its stars.
On these descriptions, the programme is framed by a Lagos-set story about a taxi driver and a black comedy-drama about ambition and immigration. That fits the theme of African and diaspora storytelling that BusinessDay says the closing-night slot reflects.
How many films, and how many by women
The outlets do not agree on the size of the selection. BusinessDay reports 130 films in the official selection. ThisDay's programme report says 135 films, with 23 of them feature films.
The share of women is the headline number in that ThisDay report: 85 per cent of the selected feature films are directed by, produced by or centred on women. The headline on that piece says "selected films", but the body text restricts the figure to features. Founder Chioma Ude said the representation emerged organically during selection and described it as a reflection of where the industry is heading.
The measure is wide. Because a film counts if a woman directed it, produced it or if it is centred on women, the figure does not say how many features are directed by women.
International titles come through embassy partnerships. ThisDay lists the American film If I Go, Will They Miss Me, written and directed by Walter Thompson-Hernández and starring Oscar nominee Danielle Brooks, and Marco Bellocchio's The Traitor, presented with the Italian Embassy. An Oscar-winning Norwegian film will also screen with the Norwegian Embassy.
The industry side
The programme also includes the Africa Film & Content Market (AFCM), the festival's industry market.
With TikTok, AFRIFF will host an AI Creative Film and Content Creation Lab on November 6, aimed at emerging filmmakers using AI tools in content creation, pre-production and micro-drama production. Ude's view on the subject, as reported from the press conference:
"AI is not going to take anyone's job, but rather the person who knows how to use AI will replace those who don't."
Pulse Nigeria is another collaborator, with AFRIFF launching the Pulse Rising Filmmaker Award, a fresh category designed to honour and provide money to filmmakers who are early in their careers.
The programme includes partnerships with diplomatic missions. U.S. Consul General Brandon Hudspeth said the U.S. Mission is supporting AFRIFF for the 11th consecutive year. The U.S. Mission plans to screen ten American features and to run masterclasses: Oscar-nominated producer Alex Madigan will take one in November, and gaming executive Mike Fischer another in December. Two U.S. film envoys, Angel Kristi Williams and Charles Kirby, will lead week-long workshops on directing and cinematography for emerging Nigerian filmmakers. "Our goal is to give Nigeria creatives the tools and connections to shape their own future and do business with American platforms, studios and investors," Hudspeth said.
Laurent Favier, Consul General of France in Lagos, said "No studio, platform, or artist can meet these new industry challenges alone". BusinessDay reports that he noted four French-Nigerian feature-film co-productions in development.
Elsewhere, Oman is sending a 10-person delegation with scripts, looking for Nigerian co-production partners. Brazil and South Africa have signed three-year framework agreements with the festival, covering several projects, co-productions and residencies.
As ThisDay puts it, AFRIFF is positioning the 15th edition as a meeting point for filmmakers, technology innovators, investors and international partners. The AFRIFF Globe Awards on November 7 are the festival's final night.
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