The 2025 edition of AAIFF Africa will include 21 films competing in official selection, with a jury chaired by critically-acclaimed Nigerian filmmaker, C.J. “Fiery” Obasi.
By Vivian Nneka Nwajiaku
The All African Independent Film Festival (AAIFF Africa) is set to return for its second year from 10th to 12th October, 2025 at the French Institute in Kigali, Rwanda. The 2025 edition of AAIFF Africa will include 21 films competing in official selection, with a jury chaired by critically-acclaimed Nigerian filmmaker, C.J. “Fiery” Obasi, whose film, Mami Wata (2023), won Africa’s Best Independent Film at AAIFF 2024.
Independent filmmakers from 16 countries across Africa and the diaspora will compete in seven categories covering features, shorts, animation, documentary, and student works. Additionally, two Rwandan student films will also be showcased as part of AAIFF Africa 2025 Student’s Corner, with both films competing for the Rwandan Students Special Award 2025.
Also representing the host country, in the African Independent Animated Film category, is Nyiragitwa: Daughter of Sacyega, directed by Fiston Mudacumura. Set in 17th-century Rwanda, a girl named Nyiragitwa rebels against early marriage, choosing to breed cows for wealth. When she falls in love with Munyantore and becomes a Vizier, she defies tradition to marry him, embracing love and destiny amidst war and prejudice.
Entries from Ghana include two shorts by Ramesh Jai Gulabrai: Love & Jollof, about “a deliciously unpredictable game of emotional chess” sparked by a husband’s confession of infidelity, and To…Or Not To, about a couple at a quiet crossroads in the intimate stillness of their home.
Both shorts will compete in the African Independent Dramatic Short category, alongside Kieupe by Mélanie Zawadi Kaduku from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In Kieupe, a hidden entity representing peace awakens in a city scarred by decades of war and insecurity. From her cave, a neutral ground where peace and hope are symbolised by a piece of white fabric, the entity lives and feels the sorrow of the people.
Ivory Coast’s Dèjà Nu, an audiovisual poem meditating on transience, the body, the ensoulment of nature, euphoria and loss, directed by Rolf Hellat, will play in the African Independent Experimental Film category, along with Germany’s Lettre à Ma Fille, directed by Michael Maurissens and set in Benin, where a heartfelt letter from a mother to her future daughter expresses the challenges and joys of growing up as a woman.
The lineup also features V’s Secret, an Egyptian student film by Bassma Farah Nancy, which was previously an official selection at the 2024 Durban International Film Festival. This dark comedy short follows the escalating tensions after a newlywed man accidentally drops his wife’s underwear onto an older neighbour’s balcony.
The three-day festival will include professional workshops, nightly after-parties, as well as Q&A Sessions with the directors in competition, providing the audience with the opportunity to engage directly with the filmmakers. The programme will end with the AAIFF 2025 Awards Ceremony, where 12 awards—including Africa’s Best Independent Film and Africa’s Best Independent Film Director—will be presented to honour outstanding African independent filmmaking talent.
The All African Independent Film Festival was established in 2024 as part of the ÉCU Film Festival Group, which also hosts the European Independent Film Festival (ÉCU), the All Asian Independent Film Festival (AAIFF Asia), and the All Americas’ Independent Film Festival (AAIFF Americas’). The AAIFF Africa aims to showcase the very best independent filmmakers from across Africa and to promote their cinematic talents on a global stage.