African Filmmakers, Critics, Titles Feature In Lineups For The 2026 Berlinale

The 2026 Berlinale Talents, an initiative of the Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale), is set to welcome 200 selected film professionals (filmmakers and film journalists/critics) to Berlin, Germany, with at least twelve Africans set to feature in the programme scheduled to run from February 13th to 18th, 2026. Themed “Creating (and) Confusion—Cinema, Chaos and the Power of Discomfort,” this year’s Berlinale programme will include relevant conversations and workshops. The 200 Talents are shortlisted from 3,438 entries across 120 countries, of which 110 are female, 81 male, 3 non-binary and 6 indeterminate—which showcases Berlinale Talents’ commitment to equality and diversity, spotlighting filmmakers whose work has been locally and internationally recognized for facilitating activism, addressing topical concerns and promoting new practices.

Nigerian director and screenwriter Dika Ofoma known for God’s Wife, Obi Is A Boy, etc. and recipient of the inaugural African Film Press Critics Prize at 2025 S16 Film Festival leads the lineup of notable and fast-rising film professionals of African descent that are set to feature at the prestigious event. The selection includes Alice Alice Johnson, an award-winning South African film journalist and critic, multimedia producer and FIPRESCI Talent Press Award recipient at the Talent Durban 2025, known for amplifying African storytelling across film, theatre and digital media; Ryan Kruger (Edge of Chaos, Method Madness, The Time Travelers, etc.), a South African screenwriter and director known for navigating identity, grief and the human condition through psychologically empowered characters; Sawson Yusuf, an Egyptian producer and screenwriter; Ibrahim Snoopy (Khartoum, Serotonin, Khartoum Offside, Journey To Kenya, etc.), a Sudanese director and cinematographer known for work that explores identity crisis and resilience while incorporating Sudanese cultural heritage and emphasizing themes of social justice; and Charity Kuria (Inner Drive, Between The Pains, etc.), a Kenyan editor and screenwriter.

Egypt gains further recognition, with marketing professional and producer Maram El Bedewy and producer and director Yomna Khattab representing the North African country at the global forum. Meanwhile, the South African selection also includes director and screenwriter P and film journalist and critic Tshi. Tshi is an award-winning film critic, a Talent Durban Wrapped Prize recipient, founder of Johannesburg-based film collective CINEBA, with industry training covering major development programmes such as the 2023 Encounters Community Festival, 2024 Southern Africa Locarno Industry Academy (SALIA) and 2025 Sudu Academy.

Other names are Cameroonian producer and distributor Evodie Ngueyeli, known for films like Walls Drama (2016), Bazou, monde sans date (2015) and TV show Monkam (2025); and Rwandan director and screenwriter Yuhi Amuli, known for Kazungu (2018), Nameless (2019), A Taste of Our Land (2020), Citizen Kwame (2023), and Exodus which is currently in development.

The 2026 Talents become a part of one of the world’s most important film networks, with over 10,000 alumni globally, providing the platform for international co-production treaties and independent collaborations, and the exchange of cross-border creative ideas. As a unified programme, the 2026 Berlinale Talents is part of the 76th Berlin International Film Festival set to take place from Feb 12th – 22nd, 2026.

In addition, Afrocentric titles (films and books) have been considered across the Festival’s broad schedule and initiatives. Blue Card (Sudan) by director Mohammed Alomda and Claude (Cameroon) by Narcisse Wandji are the only African films among the 35 film projects from 27 countries jostling for creative and financial partners at the four-day Berlinale Co-production Market. Berlinale Shorts features Alpha Diallo’s Les âmes du Fouta (translated “Souls of Fouta”) a Senegal-France co-production following the death of Dembe whose parents are conflicted over his burial, and Gaël Kamilindi’s Taxi-Moto, which is about a director rethinking his story of a love story between two men. Berlinale Forum Special welcomes Pascale Bodet’s Beaucoup parler (A Lot Talk), a film about an Egyptian man’s bureaucratic path to seeking residency in France. Two literary works, Nathacha Appanah’s Night At The Heart and Gaea Schoeters’ The Gift are also tipped for possible screen adaptations.

The assured presence of African art and creatives at the 2026 Berlinale is, once again, an evidence of the continent’s growing influence on the international stage. It is a reminder of the inherent greatness of African storytellers and the potential of stories crafted from the continent as they continue to assert their voices and draw attention from the wider communities. With several cinema enthusiasts directly or indirectly linked to the continent poised for investment opportunities and mutually beneficial partnership, Africa flaunts her position in the global creative ecosystem for the umpteenth time.