By Shaibu Husseini

….AFRIFF To Open November 1 With Lady
THE 15th edition of Africa International Film Festival will open on November 1s with Olive Nwosu’s acclaimed feature directorial debut, Lady. The festival, which will run up until November 7, in Lagos, is to be held under the theme Frames of the Future: Africa’s Creative Intelligence.

Nwosu’s Lady follows a fiercely independent female cab driver in Lagos who transports a group of night-shift sex workers across the city, exploring complex themes of economic survival, female agency, and sisterhood amid economic pressures. Starring Jessica Gabriel, Amanda Oruh, and Seun Kuti, the movie earned a Special Jury Award at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival and had been screened to wide acclaim at the Berlinale and in London. The movies Afriff premiere will kick off a week featuring 130 film screenings, masterclasses, and the AFRIFF Film & Content Market. Hakeem Kae-Kazim’s ‘It’s the Blackness’ has been announced as the closing film of this edition of the festival, which AFRIFF’s Founder and Festival Director, Chioma Ude, said is designed to inspire new possibilities, encourage meaningful industry connections and help translate Africa’s creative potential into sustainable opportunities.

Good Start For Tokyo International Film Festival
THE 39th Tokyo International Film Festival launched its 10-day run on October 26 with a procession of transparent umbrellas on the red carpet, as cinema luminaries from around the world protected themselves from a (mostly) light rain en route to the TIFF Opening Ceremony. Nevertheless, spirits remained high as nearly 300 filmmakers, actors and leading lights from across all 11 sections of the festival, as well as the members of TIFF’s four competition juries, greeted an awaiting audience in ponchos before beginning their walk along the 250-meter carpet.

Among the international guests on the carpet were veteran Indonesian director, Garin Nugroho and actor Nicholas Saputra, in town with their competition title, Red Before Dawn; Belgium-based director, Teodora Ana Mihai and actor Violet Braeckman (Heysel 85); Macedonian American director Milcho Manchevski and actors Sara Klimoska and Filip Trajkovikj (Sister Brother Manhole Cover); Chinese director Qiu Jiongjiong and actors Wang Hi and Xue Xuchun (Fuxi: Four Tales of Feasting); actors Sunshine Teodoro and Nour Hooshmand of the Philippine film Filipiñana.

Also gracing the red carpet were members of the esteemed International Competition jury, led by Jury President Rolf de Heer, an Australia-based writer, director and producer, alongside Korean producer Oh Jungwan, DI colorist Yov Moor, and Japanese actor Watanabe Makiko.The red carpet also welcomed a delegation from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the organization behind the Oscars. The delegation included CEO Bill Kramer, Chief Membership, Impact, and Industry Officer Meredith Shea, and Amy Homma, Director and President of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures and Academy Collection. Inside the hall, Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Akazawa Ryosei took the stage to welcome attendees, noting, “Japanese cinema continues to make remarkable strides.

This year, Kingdom: Battle of Souls achieved the extraordinary feat of becoming the first film series in Japanese cinema history to have five consecutive installments surpass 5 billion yen at the box office, with cumulative earnings exceeding 30 billion yen. I find the continued success of Japanese cinema extremely encouraging’’. The screening of the opening film ‘Sukiyaki’ followed speeches by distinguished personalities including Jury President Rolf de Heer.   TIFF’s 39th edition, running from October 26 to November 4 will feature 204 films, question and answer sessions, symposia, masterclasses, TIFF Lounge talk sessions and an enormous array of allied events. Fifteen titles are competing for the Tokyo Grand Prix in the festival’s International Competition, drawn from 1,892 submissions from 112 countries and regions

… Names Award Recipient and Juror
THE 39th Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) has announced the recipients of the 2026 Kurosawa Akira Award. The award honours the renowned auteur’s legacy and ongoing influence, and is presented to filmmakers who have made waves in cinema and are expected to help guide the industry’s future. The award was revived in 2022 after a 14-year hiatus. The 2026 Kurosawa Akira Award will go to directors O Mipo and Mohammad Rasoulof. Director O Mipo worked as a script supervisor after a stint at Obayashi Nobuhiko’s production company, before making her feature directorial debut in 2006 with The Sakai’s Happiness. In 2014, her film, The Light Shines Only There, won Best Director at the Montreal World Film Festival and went on to sweep 60 awards both in Japan and internationally. Her latest film, How Dare You? has earned high praise at home and abroad for its vivid portrayal of children’s raw vitality. Director Mohammad Rasoulof, is an Iranian independent filmmaker, who has faced harsh government censorship, prison sentences, and filmmaking bans, yet has relentlessly pursued his unique method of filmmaking often relying on guerilla-style shooting. His courage continues to inspire creators worldwide. He won the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2020 for There Is No Evil, which was presented at the 33rd TIFF, and the Special Jury Prize at the 77th Cannes Film Festival for The Seed of the Sacred Fig in 2024, which was also selected as an Academy Award nominee for Best International Feature Film.