Recent articles
March 23, 2026
African Screenwriters Unveil Genre Shows at Series Mania (EXCLUSIVE)
Four African screenwriters will be pitching their original TV projects to industry guests on Tuesday at the 17th Series Mania in Lille, France. The quartet are the latest participants in the Realne...
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March 20, 2026
South African Crime Novelist Deon Meyer Bestsellers to Get TV Adaptations From Both Worlds, Paradoxal (EXCLUSIVE)
South Africa’s International Emmy-nominated production house Both Worlds and Paris-based Paradoxal have entered into an exclusive rights agreement with bestselling South African author Deon Meyer t...
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March 15, 2026
‘Closure,’ About a Father’s Obsessive Search for His Missing Son, Wins the Golden Alexander at Thessaloniki Documentary Festival
Polish filmmaker Michał Marczak’s “Closure,” which follows a father’s obsessive search for his vanished son and its devastating aftermath, won the Golden Alexander at the Thessaloniki Intl. Documen...
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March 14, 2026
‘My Father Killed Bourguiba’ Explores How a Failed Plot to Overthrow the Government Left a Tunisian Family Struggling to Live With the Consequences
In her sophomore feature “My Father Killed Bourguiba,” Tunisian filmmaker Fatma Riahi examines her father’s role in a failed plot to overthrow the country’s first president, exploring how his polit...
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March 12, 2026
‘Immortal Flowers,’ a Documentary About Underground Rave Culture in Ukraine, Wins Top Prize at Thessaloniki Industry Awards
“Immortal Flowers,” a debut documentary about underground rave culture in Ukraine, won big at the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival’s industry awards Wednesday night. The film, which is a U.S.-Ukra...
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March 11, 2026
‘A Dog Called Money’ Director Seamus Murphy Preps Feature Documentary on Resilient Afghan Family Rebuilding Their Lives Amid War and Exile
Irish photojournalist and filmmaker Seamus Murphy (“A Dog Called Money”) is developing a feature documentary that tells the remarkable story of a resilient Afghan family forced to flee their war-to...
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March 11, 2026
Juliette Binoche Weighs In on Timothée Chalamet Ballet Comments: ‘I Thought Cinema Was a Dying Art’
Academy Award-winning French actor Juliette Binoche took a playful jab at Timothée Chalamet on Wednesday when asked to weigh in on the “Marty Supreme” Oscar nominee’s recent comments about ballet a...
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March 10, 2026
‘Ashes,’ From Oscar-Winning ‘No Other Land’ Producers, Follows a Syrian’s Struggle to Bring War Criminals to Justice
In the early days of the Syrian uprising, Daham Alasaad was working as a tour guide in his native Palmyra, leading a group through the ruins of the ancient city. When a tourist handed him a camera ...
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March 9, 2026
Five Takeaways From the Joburg Film Festival and JBX Market: Rebate Woes, the End of Africa’s Streaming Wars and Politics in the Spotlight
The eighth edition of the Joburg Film Festival wrapped Sunday, putting a bow on a busy week that saw organizers fielding a record 700 submissions from nearly 100 countries — a testament to their on...
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March 8, 2026
Swiss Period Drama ‘Silent Rebellion’ Takes Top Honors at Joburg Film Festival
Swiss director Marie-Elsa Sgualdo’s “Silent Rebellion,” a period drama that follows a rape survivor’s defiant journey of self-discovery, won the top prize at the 8th Joburg Film Festival on Saturda...
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March 7, 2026
How the African Screen Industries Are Turning to Tech — and Each Other — to Adapt to Market Turbulence: ‘Every Fight Is a New Fight’
As South African film and TV industry workers continued to grapple with the fallout from Canal+’s abrupt decision to shutter homegrown streaming service Showmax this week, one question seemed to be...
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March 6, 2026
Rotterdam Tiger Award Winner ‘Variations on a Theme’ Explores History’s Long Shadow Through Lyrical Lens, Releases Trailer (EXCLUSIVE)
As much a lyrical ode to rural South African life as a clear-eyed interrogation of history’s lingering impact on often marginalized communities, Jason Jacobs and Devon Delmar’s “Variations on a The...
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March 6, 2026
‘The Heart Is a Muscle’ Director on Family, Fatherhood and Moving From Generational ‘Trauma’ to ‘Healing’ in South African Oscar Entry
After launching last year in Berlin and being tapped as South Africa’s official entry for the international feature Oscar race, “The Heart Is a Muscle” comes home to South Africa this week, where i...
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March 5, 2026
Both Worlds, Freeli Films Launch First U.S.-Africa Co-Production Partnership for Microdramas, With Taye Diggs Set to Star (EXCLUSIVE)
International Emmy-nominated South African production company Both Worlds and Atlanta-based outfit Freeli Films have launched a co-production partnership to develop and produce premium microdrama s...
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March 4, 2026
Thessaloniki Agora Head on How ‘Resilience,’ ‘Investment’ in Future Power Documentary Festival’s Industry Arm Through ‘Difficult Times’
Across two decades of steadfast commitment to serving filmmakers from the host country and the wider region, the Thessaloniki Intl. Documentary Festival’s industry arm, Agora, which runs parallel t...
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March 4, 2026
Thessaloniki Documentary Festival Head on AI, Separating Fact From Fiction and Why Documentaries Are Needed ‘Now More Than Ever’
In the year since the Thessaloniki Intl. Documentary Festival organized its 2025 edition around the theme of artificial intelligence, the technology has advanced by leaps and bounds, disrupting ind...
variety.com
March 4, 2026
South African Film and TV Workers Call on Lawmakers to Rescue Rebate System, Save Industry in Grips of ‘Horrific’ Crisis
It’s déjà vu all over again at the Joburg Film Festival, where South African film and television workers are again calling on the government to rescue a floundering rebate system and save the count...
variety.com
March 4, 2026
‘Nuisance Bear’ Directors on Why Their ‘Super-Scrappy,’ A24-Backed Sundance Winner Isn’t a ‘Traditional Nature Documentary’
Canadian filmmakers Jack Weisman and Gabriela Osio Vanden knew they were onto something when their short film “Nuisance Bear,” an unconventional nature documentary centered on the annual polar bear...
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March 2, 2026
‘Derek vs. Derek,’ About Two Feuding Farmers, Boarded by Cat&Docs Ahead of Thessaloniki Doc Fest Premiere (EXCLUSIVE)
Cat&Docs has acquired international sales rights to “Derek vs. Derek,” a documentary about two feuding farmers at odds over how to manage their land, ahead of its world premiere in the internat...
variety.com
February 15, 2026
Mahamat-Saleh Haroun on Berlin Golden Bear Contender ‘Soumsoum’ and Why It’s His ‘Duty’ to Bring His Native Chad to the Big Screen
Since arriving on the world cinema stage with the deeply personal docudrama “Bye Bye Africa” (1999), Chadian auteur Mahamat-Saleh Haroun has been at the forefront of a generation of filmmakers who ...
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February 14, 2026
‘Lady’s’ Nigerian Stars Slam ‘Dehumanizing’ Trump Travel Ban, Praise ‘Sisterhood’ Behind Sundance Prizewinner and Berlin Player
It’s a high-stakes gambit to assemble a cast of relative newcomers for a first feature film — especially when that film is set against the sprawling, kinetic, unpredictable backdrop of the Nigerian...
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February 13, 2026
African Filmmaking Talent Thrives on a Global Stage as Market Stumbles and Business Resets With New Models, Challenges
It’s a strange but perhaps fitting paradox of these uncertain times that while African cinema is enjoying greater visibility than ever before, the market for that output could very well be shrinkin...
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