The programme begins on Thursday, 1st October, with a welcome reception, an opening film screening and a conversation with filmmakers, before transitioning into an evening of music and social gathering.
By Adedamola Jones Adedayo
Lights, Camera, Africa! (LCA!) returns this October with its latest edition, “Convivium: In Gathering”, a three-day programme celebrating African and diasporic cinema through film screenings, conversations, and music at the MUSON Centre in Lagos.
According to a press release shared with Afrocritik, “Convivium: In Gathering” approaches cinema not simply as a programme of films to be watched, but as a reason to come together, creating a space for attention, encounter, conversations and collective reflection.
The three-day programme will feature both feature-length and short films from Africa and the diaspora, alongside Q&A sessions with filmmakers as well as conversations exploring migration, memory, identity, homecoming, the African city, independent filmmaking, and the ways African stories are told and preserved.
The 2026 screening lineup includes Matias Mariani’s Shine Your Eyes (2020), which was selected for the Panorama section of the 2020 Berlin International Film Festival; Ema Edosio’s When Nigeria Happens (2025), the first African film to open the Open Doors Screenings at the Locarno Film Festival; and Ifeyinwa Arinze’s Breastmilk (2025), an adaptation of ‘Pemi Aguda’s short story of the same title, which had its world premiere at the 2025 Clermont Ferrand International Short Film Festival.
Also set to screen are Akinola Davies Jr.’s Lizard (2020), winner of the Short Film Grand Jury Prize at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival; Praise Odigie Paige’s Birdie (2026), which premiered at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival; Kagho Idhebor’s My Jebba Story (2025), recipient of the Audience Choice Award at the 2025 S15 Film Festival; Joel Kachi Benson’s Madu (2025), winner of the 2025 News & Documentary Emmy Award for Outstanding Arts and Culture Documentary; Oba Kosi Nwoba’s By Design (2026); and Remi Vaughan-Richards’s Sin Is a Puppy That Follows You Home.
The programme begins on Thursday, 1st October, with a welcome reception, an opening film screening and a conversation with filmmakers, before transitioning into an evening of music and social gathering.
The programme continues on Friday and Saturday with a selection of film screenings, Q&A sessions and public discussions. The festival will conclude on Saturday, 3rd October, with a live performance from Senegalese singer and guitarist Obree Daman, rounding off the gathering on a celebratory note.
Established in 2011 by curator, cultural producer and Festival Director Ugoma Ebilah, LCA! had grown into a significant cultural platform in Lagos, before going on a hiatus after the 2019 edition, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Supported by Mbari Kola: The Arts Society, the 2026 edition represents both a homecoming and a renewed introduction to the festival, bringing together filmmakers, artists, writers, musicians, thinkers, students and audiences around African cinema and contemporary cultural expression.
“After six years, it mattered that LCA! return not simply with a programme, but with an invitation: to watch closely, think together and rediscover what becomes possible when people share a room,” Ugoma Ebilah, Festival Director, said. “Convivium is about cinema as an encounter between films and audiences, and among all of us”.
This year’s LCA! will run from 1st to 3rd October, 2026. Admission is free, and registration is available through the festival’s official website.