The participating African film professionals are among 200 participants selected from 3,438 applications across 120 countries.
By Vivian Nneka Nwajiaku
Award-winning South African director and screenwriter, Ryan Kruger, fast-rising Nigerian director and screenwriter, Dika Ofoma, Kenya-based Sudanese director and cinematographer—and Sundance alum—Ibrahim Snoopy, and British producer of Ghanaian and Nigerian heritage, Tobi Kyeremateng, are among the African talents selected for the 2026 Berlinale Talents, the talent development programme of the Berlin International Film Festival. The participating African film professionals are among 200 participants selected from 3,438 applications across 120 countries.
Also selected are Kenyan editor and screenwriter, Charity Kuria; British filmmaker of Nigerian heritage, Ayo Akingbade; Egyptian producer and marketing professional, Maram El Bedewy; Egyptian actor, Mohamed Hatem; South African film critic and journalist, Tshi; Egyptian producer and screenwriter, Sawsan Yusuf; Ghanaian film critic and journalist, Alice Johnson; Egyptian director, Yomna Khattab; South African director and screenwriter, Priscillia Kounkou-Hoveyda; and Eiman Yousif, an Egyptian actor known for Goodbye Julia (2023).
Returning this year are Cameroonian producer and distributor, Evodie Ngueyeli, who previously participated in 2018 and 2022, and Rwandan director and screenwriter, Yuhi Amuli, who was selected in 2021. Both alumni will also be spotlighted in the Berlinale Talents Lab and the Talent Project Market. Amuli’s Mariya is one of 20 alumni projects selected for this year’s Talents Lab, while Ngueyeli’s Claude is among 10 projects featured in the Talent Project Market.
Claude also joins Blue Card, a Berlinale World Cinema Fund-supported Sudan–Germany co-production directed by Sudanese filmmaker, Mohammed Alomda, as one of only two African feature film projects selected for the Berlinale Co-Production Market this year.
According to an official press release, the selections “come from 15 diverse fields of film work, reflecting Berlinale Talents’ commitment to diversity and equality, and showcasing filmmakers whose work explores urgent issues, aids activism, utilises new practices, has been internationally recognised and much more”.
The 2026 programme will feature talks, workshops, and public discussions under the theme “Creating (and) Confusion – Cinema, Chaos and the Power of Discomfort”, while offering participants access to one of the world’s largest and most connected film networks.
Berlinale Talents 2026 will take place from 13th to 18th February, 2026, during the 76th Berlin International Film Festival, which runs from 12th to 22nd February, 2026. Early selections in the Panorama and Generation sections of the festival were announced in December 2025, including Enough is Enough (Trop C’est Trop), a French–DR Congo co-produced documentary directed by Elisé Sawasawa, which will screen in Panorama, and Black Burns Fast, a South African feature by Sandulela Asanda, selected for Generation 14plus.
The official Competition lineup and full programmes for other sections are yet to be announced.