Ganza Moise, Rwandan Film Industry, and Funding African Stories Stories

In January 2026, Ganza Moise’s Ako Kantu had its world premiere at the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR).  Ako Kantu, a Valentine’s Day special episode takes an unexpected turn when a sensationalist YouTuber interviews a charismatic thief. The short film was among eleven African films that screened at the festival including Malek Bensmail’s The Arab, Jason Jacobs and Devon Delmar’s Variations of a Theme, Ique Langa’s O Profeta (The Prophet), Hugo Salvaterra’s My Semba, Dika Ofoma’s Obi is a Boy, and others. 

For Moise, this selection holds both personal and industry significance. As a Rwandan independent filmmaker, the selection is a recognition he’s grateful for. For the Rwandan film industry, the film is one of the several Rwandan films that have been selected in major festivals for a few years now. “It is a constant confirmation that Rwandan films have a place on the global stage,” he said. 

In 2015, Moise wrote and directed his debut short film, Despair. Since then, he has worked on more than ten short films and one feature project as Assistant Director. Out of these, six short films have screened at various film festivals worldwide including Sensory Overload which had its world premiere at the 67th Oberhausen International Film Festival and won the Jury’s Special Mention in 2020. His credits include Umuturanyi (2015), Despair (2016), Sukut (2017), Injiji (2019), Flow (2019), Limbo (2020), Sensory Overload (2020), Muzunga (2022), Tears (2025), and Ako Nkantu (2025). The director has spent over a decade making short films, experimenting, and honing his voice. Now in 2026, he’s working on his directorial feature length project, Tears. 

Still from “Ako Kant

Feature films are inherently expensive, longer, ambitious, and demanding. Globally, they are artistically, financially, and logistically challenging. The weight of its crew and cast members depend on how complex and expansive each project is. A one-location film can demand less logistical and financial commitment compared to an epic film. In Africa where institutional and governmental support is limited, African filmmakers spend years developing, funding, and seeking beneficiary distribution for their projects. 

Moise has steadily worked on Tears for years. He has been gathering connections both locally and regionally while working on the project. This time has afforded him the opportunity to refine his voice. What the process also exposed him to is that “with limited funding and an uncertain prospect of recouping, compromises have to be made: you have to either embrace the constraints of telling the most feasible story, scale down your vision, or wait for years to get funding. Whichever way you choose has its own hurdles.” This is a common challenge across Africa. Zimbabwean director, Nyasha Kadandara highlighted this challenge in her interview with Culture Custodian: for her documentary project, Matabeleland, the filmmaker had to decline funding that would have dictated the film’s direction. 

In 2019, the Rwanda Film Office (RFO) initiative was launched under the Rwanda Development Board (RDB), to centralise services related to the audiovisual and film industry, and support stakeholders in enhancing their operational capacities. The RFO initiative aligns with Rwanda’s ambition to become a leading continental film destination and seeks to establish a Film Fund that will drive the development of film projects and attract international productions to Rwanda. It’s one of the few government-initiative institutions supporting Rwandan filmmakers to tell stories. Moise expressed that state-led initiatives have been effective in supporting independent and arthouse filmmakers. “The Rwanda Film Office has funded some independent and sometimes arthouse films in their different stages through the creative grants initiative initiated in 2022. My project, Tears, has benefited, as did Samuel Ishimwe’s Ikimanuka and Dusabejambo Clementine’s Benimana, set to premiere in Cannes this year. The RFO has been instrumental in the production of some of these films.”

Still from “Ako Kantu”

Each year, African films debut at global festivals with no plans on screening on the continent. This decades-long pattern has made it impossible for Africans to watch African films. Moise believes this continued because we haven’t been able to genuinely find a sustainable answer to the question of recouping investment. “In my experience, it comes down to the question: how will you make my investment back ? To my knowledge, there are fewer than ten Rwandan feature films that premiere in cinemas per year. As of today there are no open state-of-the-art cinemas. There are cinemas, but not the ones that can compete with the standard regular cinema goers are used to. We know Rwandans want to watch Rwandan films (though we don’t have the exact numbers, but the turnout to screenings, festivals and a few premieres indicates so). So clearly, the traditional model is not viable in this market.” 

Moise contends that Rwanda and other African film industries lack a functional model of distributing films adapted to the realities of Rwanda and the region,  that would guarantee return on investments, which would make a sustainable industry viable for more investments. Initiatives like the pan-African Screen Connect are trying to solve this distribution challenge. 

The inability of the continent to resolve this has opened up African filmmakers to the pressure of explaining their culture to Western audiences and investors. By applying for international grants, residencies, and labs, African filmmakers have to explain or tone down their African identity. Moise who’s a beneficiary of Hubert Bals Fund said he doesn’t feel the pressure to alter his work. “I am Rwandan. I grew up here in the generation I grew up in, and the experiences I have had influence how I see things and how I tell the stories I choose to tell.  I am still connected to the world, and  I would love to contribute to the global conversation in my small way. So I try to stay true to my perspective,  what speaks to me and what doesn’t. And I know that my film will be made in Kinyarwanda and screened to Rwandans, so it grounds me.”

On 31st December 2018, the 250 Cine-Club, a screening initiative, held its first gathering. The film community was created to foster a space for inspiration, conversation, discovery, and growing visual literacy. 250 Cine-Club is currently being hosted at Cine-Mayaka, Rwanda’s first independent cinema, run by Imitana Productions. The screenings showcase African and non-African titles while encouraging post-screening conversations. The space operates an open policy where any of the regular attendees are free to curate films, allowing filmmakers to show their works in progress and rare titles. The space remains inclusive, anyone of the regulars can curate a film which brings more people to the club and widens its reach. 

When the Cine-Club started, it was a small community dominated by filmmakers and few cinephiles. Now cinephiles have outnumbered the filmmakers, showing how consistent and inclusive the space has been. One of the Cine-Club programs, “ABACU” where the screening centered and premiered three short films by Rwandan directors, attracted 180 attendees. Although the screening wasn’t ticketed, the attendance hints at a possible distribution model. The 250 Cine-Club has curated space for Rwandan filmmakers and cinephiles to gather and discuss films. But, the challenge is transitioning from filmmakers and enthusiasts to a sustainable distribution model capable of convincing the average Rwandan audience to watch a Rwandan title over Hollywood titles. Moise believes intentional marketing is key for this to happen. It will be about selling them “something different” while being consistent and realistic about the time it will take to fill the cinemas. 

African filmmakers are exposed to a paradox where it’s often easier for their films to screen at international festivals than get a local or regional theatrical run. From Moise’s experience, this is possible because these international spaces and countries have dedicated festivals, cinemas, and structured industries for decades. Thus, for African filmmakers, international festivals and markets are the major way to get their films circulated and acquired. 

“The trouble is that while we are independently distributing our works, outside of festivals and markets, you would really need an X factor( a hype or something different) for your film to get into cinemas or direct to the consumer. Even then you need a tailored approach, what works in Kigali might not work for Nairobi.  I think there are already networks of African producers, distributors  and cinemas, so the solution might be using those to bridge the gap,” Moise said.

Moise describes the Rwandan film industry as an interdependent ecosystem of individuals and organisations, some of whom produce films largely for TV and YouTube, and others for festivals, local and international. As for independent cinema, aside from one big studio that commissions films, every filmmaker in Rwanda is, by default, independent. Thus, it’s a community borne out of necessity. The Rwandan and African film industry is rapidly growing. African filmmakers are making appearances at international festivals, residences, co-production deals are being signed, while distribution challenges are slowly being solved. There isn’t an array of local producers but multi-hyphenate filmmakers (mostly writers or directors doing other technical jobs).“There are a lot of young producers, adding to the few ones that were there; maybe the question could be better answered looking back a decade from now.”