The 2026 edition of the Durban FilmMart, the premier film industry event in Africa, has ended with awardees announced. The festival, from 9 to 12 October in Durban, under the theme “Shifting Worlds: Turning Towards Ourselves” successfully brought together 1131 film professionals and filmmakers from 56 countries across the world. The event ended on a high with the presentation of 39 awards from 30 partners, valued at over R2 million (over $120 938,00).
Kenyan filmmakers Neema Ngelime’s The Ones With the Tempered Flowers and Saitabao Kaiyare’s Heirs of No Regret won six awards. The former was awarded the NFVF Best Non-fiction (R100k), DOK Leipzig Award, Movies that Matter Award, Sheffield DocFest Award, and Visions du Réel Award while the latter won the Red Sea Film Fund Non-fiction grant. Sudanese filmmaker Ibrahim “Snoopy” Ahmad’s Where Do I Belong? and Alyaa Musa’s Four Months and Ten Days won six awards. Nigerian Agbajowo Collective’s The Boy Who Spoke Static won 3 awards including the NFVF Best Fiction R100k, Red Sea Fiction $5k, Sørfond Award), plus Christina Ifubaraboye’s PÜLÖ: BLOODSTREAM OF THE KIRIKE, Sunshine Cinema Award and Cheyi Okoaye’s Cause, Effect & Maybe Consequences won the El Gouna Emerge Award. The awards are divided into two categories: the cash award and market/event participation awards. The cash award provides monetary support to start the pitch project while the market award will provide filmmakers with free access to international film markets and festivals to pitch their ideas and get possible investors and deals.
For the cash awards category, Algerian Mouni Bouallam’s Le Fil Et Le Mur (The Thread and the Wall) won the 10,000 USD The JustFilms Documentary Award (Ford Foundation). The Al Jazeera Co-production Award of 10,000 USD was awarded to Fitnat Waked’s On the Sea Road. Nour Obaid participated on the project with Waked. The Climate Story Labs Award of 10,000 USD awarded on behalf of Climate Story Labs Africa and Doc Society, in collaboration with UMI Fund went to Libyan Hussein Eddeb’s The Birth of Derna.
The National Film and Video Foundation of South Africa (NFVF) gave three awards to Best Fiction, Best Non-fiction, and Best Animation. The award comes with an individual grant of R100,000. The Nigerian Agbajowo Collective’s (Temitope Ogungbamila, Samuel Okechukwu, Mat Cerf (Lead Producer) and Bisola Akinmuyiwa) The Boy Who Spoke Static was awarded the Best Fiction award. Kenyan Neema Ngelime’s The Ones With the Tempered Flowers, produced by Ivy Kiru, won the Best Non-fiction grant. The Best Animation grant went to Ethiopian Minasie Terefe’s Sunday Morning produced by Nahom Abiy.
Following this is the Inkaba Award (Stained Glass TV) award of R30,000 which went to South African Sean Mongie’s Daddies, produced by Catharina Weinek. The Nature, Environment and Wildlife Filmmakers( NEWF) Natural World Storytelling grant of 5,000 USD empowers African storytellers to create films about conservation, wildlife, and the human connection to nature. Tunsian Houcem Slouli’s A Touch of Paradise won the grant. The film will be produced by Sarra Ben Hassen.
The Red Sea Film Fund Award of 5,000 USD was awarded to a fiction and non-fiction project. Kenyan Saitabao Kaiyare’s Heirs of No Regret, produced by Mumo Liku, won the non-fiction grant while the Agbajowo Collective’s The Boy who Spoke Static won the fiction grant. The Docubox Award of 5,000 USD was awarded to Sudanese Ibrahim “Snoopy” Ahmad’s Where Do I Belong?, produced by Talal AfifI.
The Turkish Radio and Television Corporation(TRT), the national public broadcaster of Turkey, Award of 5,000 USD is administered through its film development branch, TRT Cinema (often associated with their international industry platform, 12 Punto). The fund is designed to support outstanding African and international co-production film projects during their pitch and development stages. Palestinian Fitnat Waked’s On the Sea Road won the grant.
Next is the Documentary Africa-presented (DocA) The RRImpact Pitch Prize in partnership with the Perspective Fund and The StoryBoard Collective. A 5,000 USD cash grant awarded to a documentary project with a compelling vision for driving social change. Burkinabè Barkima Nafissatou Laguempedo’s MY DJOMÉLÉ NIGHT, produced by Cinema Salama won the grant.
The Sundance Institute Documentary Fund New Voices Award of 5,000 USD grant was awarded to Sudanese Ibrahim “Snoopy” Ahmad’s Where Do I Belong?, produced by Talal Afifi. Egyptian Rogena Tarek’s Green Island Girls produced by Amrosh Badr was awarded the 3,000 GB POUNDS The Whickers Bursary Award.
Last was The Sunshine Cinema UCT Impact Development Award which comprises a bursary to the University of Cape Town Sunshine Cinema Film Impact Online Course of 2027 to the value of R18000, a R7500 grant towards a first impact screening of the film, and optional inclusion in the Sunshine Cinema distribution catalogue. The award went to two filmmakers: Nigerian Christina Ifubaraboye’s PÜLÖ: BLOODSTREAM OF THE KIRIKE and Palestinian Fitnat Waked’s On the Sea Road.
The Market/Event Participation Award was awarded to multiple projects and a critic who will be able to travel with their projects to international festivals and markets to pitch and get possible investors.
The DFMI Talents Durban Award which comes with flights, accommodation, and accreditation to participate in the DFM Pitch and Finance Forum 2027 was awarded to Congolese Mélanie K. Zawadi’s The Basement. The Wrapped App Award which attracts a wrapped premium subscription of 3 months worth R31500 was given to Zimbabwean Tendaiishe Chitima’s Second Bloom. The Sørfond Award which comes with flights, accommodation and accreditation to participate in the Sørfond Pitching Forum, and a pitch course was awarded to two projects: The Agbajowo Collective’s The Boy Who Spoke Static and Ibrahim “Snoopy” Ahmad’s Where Do I Belong?
The Rotterdam Lab Award attracts a 5 nights’ accommodation and accreditation to participate in the Rotterdam Lab. It was awarded to Sudanese Alyaa Musa’s Four Months and Ten Days, produced by Samo Hussein. The DOK Leipzig Award has 3 nights’ accommodation and 2 accreditations to participate in DOK Leipzig 2027 as the selected project in the DOK Co-Pro Market. Kanyan Neema Ngelime’s The Ones with the Tempered Flowers, produced by Ivy Kiru, is the winner.
The FIDADOC Award comes with flights, accommodation, and accreditation to participate in the FIDADOC Pan African Writing Residency 2027 was awarded to Libyan Hussein Eddeb’s The Birth of Derna and Malagasy Ramaroson Anatole’s Fitampoha, The Return of the King of Menabe.
The Movies that Matter Award which comes with accommodation and accreditation to attend Movies That Matter 2027 was won, again, by Neema Ngelime’s The Ones with the Tempered Flowers. The Animation Production Days (APD) Award which comes with 3 nights’ Accommodation and Industry badge (producer accreditation) to participate in Animation Production Days 2027was awarded to Ethiopian Nahom Abiy-produced Sunday Morning.
DOK.fest München Award comes with 4 nights’ accommodation and 2 accreditations for the project team to attend DOK.fest München 2027 and participate in the DOK.forum Marketplace. This was awarded Sudanese Ibrahim “Snoopy” Ahmad’s Where Do I Belong?
The Sheffield Doc Fest Award comes with 4 nights’ accommodation to attend the Sheffield DocFest 2027 with an Industry pass and a full waiver to submit to the MeetMarket. Neema Ngelime’s The Ones with the Tempered Flowers won the award.
The NEWF Post-Production Residency Award is a post-production residency at eKhaya, NEWF’s Storytelling, Research and Dive Centre and Hussein Eddeb’s The Birth of Deran won. The NEWF Summit Attendance Award comes with a Summit attendance, including flights and accommodation went to Zimbabwean Tendaiishe Chitima’s Second Bloom.
The El Gouna Emerge Award which comes with 7 nights’ shared accommodation, ground transport, and accreditation for El Gouna Film Festival 2026 was awarded to two projects: Libyan Hussein Eddeb’s The Birth of Derna and Nigerian Cheyi Okoaye’s Cause, Effect & Maybe Consequences.
The Talents Press Award presented by CIFF and FIPRESCI comes with flights, 5 nights’ accommodation, and accreditation for Cairo International Film Festival 2026 for the selected Talents Press participant. Burkinabebe film critic Neya Harouna won the award. The FL x IEFTF Next Award (TorinoFilmLab) went to Alyaa Musa’s Four Months and Ten Days. Finally, the Visions du Reel Award was won by Neema Ngelime’s The Ones with the Tempered Flowers.
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