Dani Kouyate’s Katanga, La Danse Des Scorpions, Is Best Film of FESPACO 2025
The 29th Pan-African Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou (FESPACO), which attracted filmmakers, industry professionals, policymakers and cinephiles from across Africa and beyond was brought to a beautiful close on March 1 after a colourful closing ceremony witnessed by Burkina Faso leader, Captain Ibrahim Traore. At the ceremony, which ended the week-long festival, Dani Kouyate, gave Burkina Faso something to cheer about, when his film, Katanga, la danse des scorpions, was declared winner of the coveted Golden Stallion of Yennenga. That declaration, which was well received earned host country Burkina Faso its first Étalon d’Or in 28 years. The film received the jury award and the audience award. The Silver Stallion (Étalon d’argent) went to The Village Next to Paradise by Mo Harawe (Somalia), while the Bronze Stallion (Étalon de bronze) was awarded to On Becoming a Guinea Fowl by Rungano Nyoni (Zambia). The documentary prize went to Malauray Éloi Paisley for L’Homme-Vertige (Guadeloupe). The documentary film won both the Golden Stallion (Documentary) and the Paul Robeson Prize for best diaspora film. With African Cinema and Cultural Identities the theme, this edition of FESPACO was entirely devoted to paying tribute to Malian filmmaker, Souleymane Cissé, who passed on days before the festival. The legendary filmmaker was earlier slated to be a juror at the festival, which attracted over 20,000 attendees.
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LIFACC 2025 Set For July In Lagos
THE organisers of the yearly Lagos International Film and Cinema Convention have announced dates for the third edition of an event that is promoted as Africa’s premier gathering of filmmakers, cinema stakeholders, distributors, investors, and industry leaders. This year’s edition will hold between July 16 and 18 at Ebony Life Place, Victoria Island, Lagos, Nigeria. Founder and CEO of LIFAAC, Theophilus Akatugba, stated in a widely circulated statement that the convention aims at expanding networks, showcasing brands and exploring ground breaking opportunities in cinema and film production. Akatugba disclosed that this edition would feature a LIFACC Feature Film Festival, which is expected to run alongside the convention, celebrating outstanding African and international feature films. “There will be the usual exclusive exhibition opportunities for film production companies, cinema equipment providers, and service companies as well as a gala and award night which is an exciting night of recognition, entertainment, and celebration of excellence in the film and cinema industry,” Akatugba stated. Additional information on LIFAAC can be sourced at  http://www.lifacc.com

Joyful Closing Of The 75th Berlinale: Delighted Winners, Full Cinemas
THE 75th Berlin International Film Festival may have come to a successful close but the buzz around the winning film Drømmer (Dreams (Sex Love)) by Dag Johan Haugerud is still on. Indeed interest in the programme of the 75th Berlinale has been very impressive among industry professionals and the public. Records showed that around 19,000 accredited professionals (including press) came to the festival. While 336,000 tickets were sold to the public, slightly more than 2024. “We were delighted with the results of the 75th anniversary edition. We have seen a positive response to our juries’ decisions, strong feedback on the improvements we made to our infrastructure, and also much excellent feedback on film and industry programmes. Additionally, audience admissions were up on previous years.

The spirit was high and with this energy we are already planning for 2026,” says Festival Director Tricia Tuttle. The eight sections of the festival offered the audience a diverse film programme and around 340 audience discussions with the film teams across approx. 1,000 public screenings during the Berlinale. The new section Perspectives, in which 14 exciting feature film debuts celebrated their premieres, put the spotlight on up-and-coming international filmmakers.

A number of these films reported international sales during the Berlinale. The European Film Market’s 2025 edition buzzed with dynamic activity, with steady attendance and a wave of first-time participants from India and Eastern Europe. A strong US presence led the turnout as the second largest group of participants after participants from Germany, followed by France and Spain and the UK.  Nine hundred and ninety-eight market screenings, 82.3 per cent of them market premieres, attracted over 1,314 buyers. The various new networking formats and expert-led workshops were exceptionally well-attended. The Berlinale Series Market spotlighted exclusive previews of upcoming international series. The team of the Berlinale Co-Production Market put together an extremely successful 22nd edition at a new location, the Octogon at Leipziger Platz: more than 1,500 individual meetings with co-producers were organised and five cash prizes totalling over 60,000 euros were awarded to new feature film projects. The talks, speed matchings, consultations and networking events also delighted the more than 600 international participants.

The World Cinema Fund dedicated its WCF Day 2025 to “Poetry and Politics, Production, Visibility and Resilience Strategies in Challenging Times”, which was very well visited. Panels around cinema production in the Arab world and distribution and audience strategies for WCF regions were part of the WCF Day. The presence of five WCF-supported films in the Berlinale 2025 programme conveys very well what the WCF is, does and means today. 
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