When Marete Selvin, from Kenya, Mizero Kabano Yannick from Rwanda, and Cassandra Onwalu from Nigeria, applied for the Some Fine Day Pix and GIZ’s Moving Pictures’ MOVING PICTURES Incubator Programme in 2024, the idea for co-founding Screen Connect, their recently launched Pan-African distribution company hadn’t formed. As filmmakers and individuals already thinking about the distribution challenges in Africa, they had applied for strikingly similar reasons. Yannick’s involvement in the operation of Cine Mayaka by IMITANA— Rwanda’s oldest and sole independently-owned cinema— and his concerns as a filmmaker about limited distribution options, guided his motivation to apply.
As he tells Custodian Custodian in this interview featuring the other founders, he mentions how, after Rwandan filmmakers send films to international film festivals, there is nowhere in Rwanda to show said films. “This has been a decade-long challenge for Rwanda filmmakers. Thus, on seeing the Some Fine Day Pix and GIZ’s Moving Pictures program, I applied and met other like-minded individuals.”
Working in the African film industry means Selvin is exposed to the unlimited storytelling potential. However, despite this, African films rarely make it to African screens. Upon meeting her co-founders, the pathway to make African films accessible to Africans was etched. “We want to get more Africans to see and interact with their stories and storytellers.” Onwalu is a staunch believer in theatrical distribution because of the prestige it lends to films and filmmakers. This has, over the years, grounded her interest in ensuring that African filmmakers and films enjoy this prestige on African screens. This grounded interest propelled her into signing up for the incubator program where she met Yannick and Selvin. With this established interest, it was easier for the three founders to align and harness their strengths, goals, and desires into a unified one that birthed the Screen Connect company. “There’s only so many films the streaming platforms can take. With Netflix and Amazon’s partial exit, it just made sense to see how we could really harness cinema distribution,” Onwalu tells Culture Custodian.
Incubated in 2024 under Some Fine Day Pix and GIZ’s Moving Pictures program, Screen Connect aims to bring high-quality, culturally relevant African films to cinema screens across the continent. The Pan-African initiative seeks to bridge long-standing distribution gaps and connect African audiences with African stories, from Kigali to Nairobi to Lagos to Johannesburg. The company has kickstarted this initiative with the distribution of Tolu Ajayi’s Over the Bridge which will have its Kenyan and Rwandan premiere on 6th, June 2025. This launch isn’t just the beginning of the company’s business but one of the projected solutions to the distribution challenges that have hitherto stifled the growth of the African film industry.
As early as 1982, during the International Conference on Cinema Production in Niamey, Niger, where the Niamey Manifesto emerged, African filmmakers, scholars, critics, and stakeholders began meeting to discuss issues around distribution. The Niamey Manifesto states that “the viability of cinema production is closely tied to the complementary viability of the other four main sectors of cinema, namely the exploitation of cinema theatres, Importation of films, distribution of films, technical Infrastructure, and training.” This manifesto posits that significant progress can’t be achieved in the African film industry unless these four aspects are addressed simultaneously. When asked in an interview republished by BFI, if Africa’s monumental representation at the 1991 Canes reflected a legitimate acknowledgement of African cinema, African filmmaker Ousmane Sembène was conflicted in his response. Though he acknowledged the importance of such representation, he was skeptical about it. In his words, “Our film industry is being organised through the French speaking community. Is it not time for us to draw the attention of the young[filmmakers] to think about what they can do to help distribute our films, especially in our countries for the benefit of our public? The presence of our films at Cannes is a good thing. It’s the first good advertisement at Cannes in 20 years. The public gathered there is not found anywhere else. However Cannes is a “flash in the pan”. Once Cannes is over, African films are no longer exhibited.”
Sembène’s concern still exists in the present-day African film industry. This year, Nigeria witnessed an unprecedented appearance at the Cannes Film Festival with its selection of Akinola Davies’s My Father’s Shadow, the country’s debut acceptance at the festival. There were also a number of African films and filmmakers at the Cannes Film Market, Nollywood-focused panel sessions, and a Nigerian government presence at the Cannes under the Screen Nigeria initiative. As more and more African films get international film festivals’ attention and international distribution deals, that commercial and critical acclaim isn’t replicated in their home countries. Titles like Rugano Nyango’s On Becoming a Guinea Fowl, Ishaya Bako’s I Do Not Come To You By Chance, Mati Diop’s Dahomey, that have enjoyed international film festival buzz, and those with similar buzz at African International Film Festival(AFRIFF) like Ifeoma N Chukwuogo’s Phoenix Fury, The Agbajowo Collective’s The Legend of the Vagabond Queen of Lagos, Afolabi Olalekan’s Freedom Way are still locked in filmmakers’ drive away from Africans’ view. With this decade-long history of uncertainty around the distribution of African films, it becomes pivotal to understand what Screen Connect intends to change on the continent.
Speaking on what has affected the distribution of African films, Onwalu says citizens’ purchasing power, lifestyle change, and unstable political landscape are factors worth considering. She mentions how distribution and cinema operations, in Nigeria, were first owned by foreigners. The shutting down of cinemas during military rule killed the momentum cinema operations had gained in the country. Currently, she added, we are in a digital distribution era with streaming platforms like Iroko TV, Netflix, Prime, and Showmax. “How media is consumed, the changing political landscapes, citizens’ interaction with information, and citizens’ economic power affect distribution. A lot of Africans won’t mind owning multiple streaming platforms and visiting the cinema if economic situations are favourable. But, with the current reality, who can do that when they are struggling to feed?”
Adding to the conversation, Selvin says the rise of cultural sensitivity has resulted in hunger, thirst, and demand for local stories. Speaking from a Rwandan perspective, Yannick says his country is a newcomer to distribution, considering that the first film produced in Rwanda was made in 1994 after the genocide. Currently, Rwandan filmmakers are paying attention to storytelling and are seeking local distribution options. Selvin also adds that, in Kenya, things are gradually picking up. There are more local productions and distributions. Despite the beauty of this movement, there’s still quite a lot more work to be done to bring more films to the cinemas.
Distribution comes with heavy uncertainties. And, as the founders tell Culture Custodian, logistics, figuring out and creating a framework are top-most priorities. Thus, at this stage of the company, they are doing a lot of observing, data collection, and handling marketing costs. Right now, Screen Connect is starting with Rwanda and Kenya, but the goal is to expand into other African countries. The team is hoping to acquire data that can help in building a tailor-made business model that can be used and adjusted depending on the African markets they are operating in. “As a Pan-African film distribution company, we are aware that some films might not do so well in certain countries due to cultural and social values. So right now, collecting and analyzing that can help in building a proper structure, operations, modus operandi,” Onwalu says.
Although the team is collecting data, Yannick adds that distribution and marketing plans for every film will be varied. Considering that the focus is on localized marketing, Selvin adds that data obtained from their launch will be used in understanding how Kenyan and Rwandan audiences consume, receive, and interact with films. “This data will also be helpful to film producers to figure out where to distribute their films. Filmmaking is a business and economic venture and this data is pivotal to its survival” Selvin concludes.
One of Screen Connect’s unique perks is its bold decision to show African films across the continent. In building a pipeline and structure for cultural exchange through distribution, the Screen Connect team is doing the dirty work that no other distributors on the continent are concerned about doing. We want to ensure that cultural exchanges move beyond virtual spaces. As Onwalu admitted, though they are not inventing a new distribution wheel, one of what they offer filmmakers is marketing their films and talking to the press. As a producer, Onwalu knows how valuable this is to the commercial success of a film. “We are flying the director of Over the Bridge to Kenya for a Meet and Greet and Special Screening closely followed by a Q&A. Not even FilmOne, with all its might and money, has done that before.”
In an industry that unfairly places African indie filmmakers in a tight spot, how is the company hoping to correct this? The founders gracefully responded to this while highlighting the importance of special screening and curation. With his experience operating Cine Mayaka by IMITANA, Yannick mentions how over the years they have been able to create an identity for showing arthouse-leaning films. This doesn’t mean they aren’t interested in commercial films but it just shows their commitment to varied stories and sensibilities. Onwalu adds that though they will be using data, it doesn’t mean they won’t test different kinds of films. “We’re open to different films because we need to curate new audiences. The data just makes it easier to expand our audience reach and circle.”
As a new company in the market, one of their projected challenges is the limited availability of screens on the continent and the absence of cinemas in certain countries. Another foreseeable challenge is the varying film policies of individual African countries and how they affect cinema operations. Another is the unwillingness of cinema houses to distribute films with tested and trusted IPs. As can be discerned, these are challenges that African distribution companies across the continent are facing not just Screen Connect. To combat these challenges, Screen Connect is ready to have different working mechanisms for every cinema they will be distributing to. “Some solutions might be to consider public-private partnerships, collaborations between governments and private entities, infrastructure building, and cross-regional collaboration and partnership,” Selvin adds.
Unmindful of these challenges, the founders are excited about the future of African cinema distribution and that of Screen Connect. Selvin wants to see a future where African titles are as common as Hollywood titles in African cinemas. Yannick shares Selvin’s excitement and dream. As a cinema operator, she is looking forward to a time when Africans will be eager to watch African titles in the cinema the way they are for Hollywood films. Adding to this general excitement and dream, Onwalu says she also is looking forward to a time when African filmmakers take film as a business. Ultimately, the founders’ dream is to create a cultural exchange that leads to high production value in the kind of African films released in different African countries.
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