FAME Week Africa 2025: An Atmosphere For Celebration of Diversity and Excellence In Pan-African Filmmaking 

FAME Week Africa  is an annual event that brings together African creatives across film, television, animation, music, fashion and entertainment technology. Aimed at showcasing their inherent talent, stories and culture, the event recently concluded its latest edition in the host city of Cape Town, South Africa. For this year, the week-long event spanned the 1st and 6th of September, 2025 and featured a potpourri of films spun from different regions of the continent—all bold, authentic and far-reaching stories.

The event brought together major stakeholders in contemporary African cinema, including representatives from MultiChoice, FilmOne Entertainment and KAVA, with impactful panel sessions that touched on different aspects of filmmaking.

A notable highlight was the FAME Short Films festival which began with the celebration of 31 brilliantly made African short films in comedy, horror, documentary and sci-fi genres. The Best Short Film Prize winner went to The Incredible Sensational Fiancée of Sèyí Àjàyí, a hilarious film about a scholar who plots revenge following the discovery of her fiance’s engagement to another woman, directed by Nigerian-American filmmaker Abbesi Akhamie.

South African filmmaker Ari Kruger won the Best Director prize for his short film King George, a story about a man who confronts threats to his respectable strip club business. Winners at the short film festival also included South African Muadi llung who won the Best Actress prize for her performance in Belinda, a satirical drama about three hotel workers who stumble upon a magical money-making machine run at the expense of human lives, directed by Isaac Kasende, and Cindy Lee, director of the Oscar-nominated 2025 live-action short The Last Ranger, who received the Contribution to African Cinema accolade. The Best LGBTQIA+ Film prize went to Blind Spots, a film directed by South African filmmaker Miselwa “Missy” Ngamlana. All these short films were screened from 4th to 6th September at The Labia Theatre, the oldest independent cinema in Cape Town.

Beyond the spotlight on short films, othe 2025 FAME Week Africa hosted the second Inclusive Lens Awards, which was in celebration of creatives reshaping how Afrocentric stories are told on the screens. From LGBTQIA+ empowerment to disability awareness and children entertainment, these awards celebrate unique narratives that promote inclusivity. The Diversity in Kids’ Programming recognition was bestowed on Kiya & the Kimoja Heroes, an animated television series set in a fictional African city and woven around three friends with superhero abilities, and lyanu, a fantasy action-adventure set in a fictional Yoruba world. For the Representation of Disability category, three productions stood out. These were Facing Forward, a South African documentary about physically challenged individuals embracing the transformative power of para-surfing, a sport that is not only crucial to their physical wellbeing but also helpful to facilitating a sense of agency and pride; Everybody Loves Touda, a co-production between Morocco, Belgium, France, Denmark, The Netherlands and Norway, directed by Moroccan filmmaker Nabil Ayouch; and Diepe Waters, a South African Showmax telenovela that navigates love, secrets, revenge and intrigues against the backdrop of competitive swimming.

In a similar vein, extensive film and television projects such as Onthou Vi Fredo?, Nyame Mma, This Body Works For Me and She, He, They were honoured for Representation of LGBTQIA+. Onthou Vi Fredo?, a South African documentary directed by Cleveland Hopp, chronicles the life and legacy of Alfredo through the perspectives of his mother, friends and the queer community of Cape Town, following his tragic demise. This Body Works For Me is a Showmax reality show about seven women navigating the South African adult entertainment industry. Nyame Mma, a Ghanaian short film directed by Joewackle J. Kusi, follows the story of a young man Kwamena who returns home after his father’s death, only to be confronted with the loss of an estranged lover, Maroof. The film navigates loss, grief and the social setbacks against open expressions of queer identity. She, He, They, a seven-episode series directed by Uyaiedu Ikpe-Etim and Ayo Lawson and set in Lagos, Nigeria, explores the affairs and struggles of queer individuals, most notably Reni a lesbian and her three roommates who are a trans woman, a gay man and another lesbian.

Perhaps the peak of it all was the Unseen Impact award which went to South African filmmaker Karen Jeynes in acknowledgement of her groundbreaking advocacy through inclusive storytelling. With an impressive career in screenwriting and directing, Jeynes is known for television series like Puppet Nation ZA (2014 – 2017), Recipes for Love and Murder (2022 – 2025), The Morning After (2024), and the documentary Africa and I (2021). Last year, she and Simon Manda, editor of  THISABILITY Newspaper in South Africa, founded the Disabled Audio-Visual Workers Network (DAWN), an organization aimed at creating inclusive narratives and engagement opportunities for disabled audiovisual professionals across Africa. By enabling access to opportunities, funding and professional advancement for disabled creatives on the continent, the initiative contributes in its own special ways towards the development of Africa’s film and television space.

The FAME Week Africa ended in an emphatic style for African cinema, with its pursuit of excellence in film, television and other aspects of the creative sector reminding us of the boundlessness of African narratives and ingenuity of the African spirit.