The Africa International Film Festival (AFRIFF) is set to return for its 14th edition, with a lineup of over ninety films screening across features, shorts, documentaries, animations, and student shorts, in and out of competition.
By Vivian Nneka Nwajiaku
The Africa International Film Festival (AFRIFF) is set to return for its 14th edition, with a lineup of over ninety films screening across features, shorts, documentaries, animations, and student shorts, in and out of competition. The week-long festival will take place from Sunday, 2nd November to Saturday, 8th November, 2025, at multiple venues in Lagos, Nigeria, under the theme “Rhythms of The Continent: The AfroBeats Film Movement”.
The 2025 Festival will open with Asurf Oluseyi’s pan-African revenge thriller, 3 Cold Dishes (2025), executive produced by Nigerian musical artiste, Burna Boy, and will close with TUKKI – From Roots to Bayou (2024), a music documentary directed by Vincent Le Gal and Alune Wade.
Among the features screening are Thomas Ngijol’s Untamable (2025), Zoey Martinson’s The Fisherman (2024), Kayode Kasum’s Fractured (2025) and The Good Gift (2025), Obi Emelonye’s Safari (2025), Mlungisi Mhlanga’s Lottery Love (2024), and Chee Keong Cheung’s Son of the Soil (2025). Short films screening include Melanie Zawadi Kaduku’s Kieupe (2025), Sanaa El Alaoui’s Aicha (2025), Juliet Ibrahim’s Behind A Lie (2025), Chisom Ifeakandu’s The Moral High Court (2025), Myde Glover’s Irin Ajo (The Journey), and Rashida Seriki’s Leaving Ikorodu In 1999.
In the documentary categories, selected films include The Good, The Bad and The Ugly of Afrobeat (2025), directed by Louis Ejiofor; Finding Home: The Art of Black Women In Their Diaspora (2025), by Akosua Gyamma Busia; Matabeleland (2025), by Nyasha Kadandara; and The Eyes of Ghana (2025), directed by Ben Proudfoot.
AFRIFF 2025 will also offer professional masterclasses and workshops across various aspects of filmmaking from writing, directing, acting, cinematography and sound design, to production and distribution. Additionally, the programming features industry sessions around financing, international co-production, fashion, animation, technology, and African storytelling through film, with respected film, music and fashion executives as panelists.
In line with this year’s festival theme, several conversations will be dedicated to the intersections between music and film. Notable sessions include: “Rhythms of the Continent: Exploring How Afrobeats Impact African Cinema”, with Davido, Asa Asika, Dammy Twitch, and Blessing Uzzi, as speakers; “Cinematic Harmonies: Exploring Music–Film Synergies and Monetization for a Profitable Future”, with Dr Sid, Paul Okeugo, M.I Abaga, Kemi Adetiba, and Charles Okpaleke; and “Fashion Meets Film: The Fusion of Costuming and Afrobeats Style in Nollywood”, featuring Mai Atafo, Ugo Mozie, and Folake Folarin Coker.
Also worth looking forward to are sessions on the making of Nollywood blockbusters, specifically Funke Akindele’s A Tribe Called Judah (2023), Kemi Adetiba’s To Kill a Monkey (2025), and Femi Adebayo’s Seven Doors (2024), and a fireside conversation with British-Nigerian actor and filmmaker, David Oyelowo,
This year’s edition will also include the newly launched AFRIFF Film & Content Market (AFCM) which will run alongside the festival from 3rd to 6th November. The AFCM is intended to develop AFRIFF from a film showcase event to a dedicated marketplace for film designed to facilitate film acquisition and foster collaborations between filmmakers, distributors, and investors.
AFRIFF 2025 will conclude on 8th November with the AFRIFF Globe Awards, the festival’s annual prize-giving ceremony established to honour excellence in African and diaspora cinema across feature films, documentaries, shorts, and animations.
The screening schedule for AFRIFF 2025 is available on the AFRIFF website. Below is the full list of AFRIFF 2025 selections screening in and out of competition.
Features – Africa (In Competition)
- Untamable (2025, Cameroon/France) — Thomas Ngijol
- 3 Cold Dishes (2025, Cote d’Ivoire/France/Nigeria) — Asurf Amuwa Oluseyi
- The Fisherman (2024, Ghana) — Zoey Martinson
- Nawi (2024, Kenya) — Kevin Schmutzler, Toby Schmutzler, Apuu Mourine Munyes, Vallentine Chelluget
- Aljana (2025, Nigeria) — Directed by Grace Yakubu
- Fractured (2025, Nigeria) — Kayode Kasum
- The Boy Who Gave (2025, Nigeria) — Allison Precious Emmanuel
- To Adaego With Love (2025, Nigeria) — Nwamaka Priscilia Chikezie
Features – International (In Competition)
- Pasa Faho (2024, Australia) — Kalu Oji
- The Answer to Forever (2025, China) — Zheng Yunchang
- After Us, The Flood (2024, Finland) — Arto Tapio Halonen
Features (Out of Competition)
- The Funeral of Kwadae (2025, Ghana) — Nana Obiri-Yeboah
- Njem (2025, Nigeria) — Uche Chukwu
- Safari (2025, Nigeria) — Obi Emelonye
- The Good Gift (2025, Nigeria) — Kayode Kasum
- Three Tramps and the Law (2025, Nigeria) — Yibo Koko
- The Memory of the Mango Tree (2025, Senegal) — Nicolas Sawalo Cisse
- Lottery Love (2024, South Africa) — Mlungisi Mhlanga
- Mikoko (2024, Togo) — Angela Aquereburu
- Son of the Soil (2025, United Kingdom) — Chee Keong Cheung
- Welcome (2023, United States) — Jevon Boreland
Shorts – Africa (In Competition)
- Choices (2025, Nigeria) — Nwamaka Priscilia Chikezie
- Ẹlẹ́ da Àyànmọ́ (2025, Nigeria) — Stanley Obi Arinze
- Mr Rogers (2025, Nigeria) — Daniel Aigbokhaivbo
- Seed (2025, Nigeria) — Chawuko Enakadia, Muhammad Atta Ahmed
- Telephone (2025, Nigeria) — Fimisinuola Adejonwo
- The Day The Heart Died (2024, Nigeria) — Russell Oru
- Lapeng (2024, South Africa) — Paballo Mokwena
- Rearview (2025, South Africa) — Chris Djuma
- Boy No Fear (2024, Uganda) — Jonathan Curtiss
Shorts – International (In Competition)
- The General’s Son (2024, Canada) — Angela Onuora
- Majini (2025, Germany) — Joshua Neubert, Victor Muhagachi
- Echoes From The Past (2025, United Kingdom) — Ayodeji Sanni
- Becoming Sidney (2025, United States) — Ken Gregory
- Food For The Soul (2025, United States) — Chisom Chieke
Shorts (Out of Competition)
- Nativity Scene (2025, Brazil) — Felipe Bibian
- Echoes (2024, Canada) — Ifenna Okeke
- Les Semelles du Quartier (2025, Canada) — Dominique Caron
- Sugar Dumplin (2024, Canada) — Tristan Barrocks
- Kieupe (2025, Democratic Republic of Congo) — Melanie Zawadi Kaduku
- Behind A Lie (2025, Ghana) — Juliet Ibrahim
- Mann Aasai (2025, India) — Arivasaran R.
- Aicha (2025, Morocco) — Sanaa El Alaoui
- Akoko (2025, Nigeria) — S.I. Abrams
- Irin Ajo (The Journey) (2024, Nigeria) — Myde Glover
- Isekonu (2025, Nigeria) — Emmanuel “Story Priest” Adejo
- On Our Skin (2024, Nigeria) — Abiodun Udom, Emmanuel Adejo
- Steal. Kill. Destroy! (2025, Nigeria) — Joy Isi Bewaji
- The Girl Who Cannot Love (2025, Nigeria) — Oluwafemi Peter Atoyebi
- The Moral High Court (2025, Nigeria) — Chisom Valerie Ifeakandu
- What Emma Wants (2025, Nigeria) — Samuel Kehinde Njoku
- Idia (2025, Nigeria) — Winifred Iguwa
- Let It Burn (2025, Poland) — Piotr Karol Balua
- Amazeze (2025, South Africa) — Jordy Sank
- Bleeding Canvas (2025, South Africa) — Taze Mhlanga
- Indlu Yenkomo (2025, South Africa) — Thozama Busakwe, Khule Mayisa
- Members Only (2025, South Africa) — Mangatsila Hlaise
- Millennial Dad (2024, South Africa) — Maishe Mosala
- The Letter (2025, South Africa) — Wadelin McKuur, Lesego Motlana
- Jimbi (2024, Uganda) — Tusabe Ivan
- Leaving Ikorodu In 1999 (2024, United Kingdom) — Rashida Seriki
- Shall We Meet Tonight (2025, United Kingdom) — Wapah Ezeigwe
- A Beauty Supply In Queens (2024, United States) — Oluseyi Olatujoye, Princess Adenike
- Frangible (2025, United States) — Marie France Louis
- Whispers Of Light (United States) — Emeka Ojukwu, Jumoke Omojola
Documentaries – Africa (In Competition)
- Of Mud and Blood (2024, Democratic Republic of Congo) — Jean-Gabriel Leynaud
- Finding Home: The Art of Black Women In Their Diaspora (2025, Ghana) — Akosua Gyamma Busia
- The Good, The Bad and The Ugly of Afrobeat (2025, Nigeria) — Louis Ejiofor
- Matabeleland (2025, Zimbabwe) — Nyasha Kadandara
Documentaries – International (In Competition)
- LACE Relations (2025, Austria) — Anette Baldauf, Chioma Onyenwe, Joana Adesuwa Reiterer, Katharina Weingartner
- TUKKI: From Roots to Bayou (2024, France) — Vincent Le Gal, Alune Wade
- Where Two Oceans Meet (2025, France) — Lulu Scott
- Nteregu (A Story To Be Sung) (2024, Portugal) — Manuel Loureiro, Roger Mor
- Lobito Bound: A Journey to Africa’s New Frontier (2025, United Kingdom) — by Leopold Belanger
- The Eyes of Ghana (2025, United States) — Ben Proudfoot
Documentaries – (Out of Competition)
- Operation Lights Out: The Story of Canairelief (2021, Canada) — Angela Onuora
- Shades of Survival (2025, Nigeria/United Kingdom) — David Ayeni
Animation – Africa (In Competition)
- Jabari (2023, Ghana) — Francis Y. Brown
- Hadu (2024, Nigeria) — Damilola Solesi
- Leon and the Professor (2024, Nigeria) — Chekwube Okonkwo
- Melon Street (2023, Nigeria) — Adeoye Adetunji
- No One Hears Us (2023, Nigeria) — Esther Kemi Gbadamosi
Animation – International (In Competition)
- Plea or Protest (2024, Pan-African) — S. Awuor, A. Căprariu, C. Lwansa, O. Omololu, C. Okoli
- Cafunè (2024, Spain) — Carlos F. De Vigo, Lorena Ares
- Mother Tongue (2024, United Kingdom) — Duncan Senkumba
- Scars of Love (2024, United Kingdom) — Joshua Ibejigba
- Life & Us (2024, United States) — Nkem DenChukwu
Student Shorts (In Competition)
- The Labyrinth (2024, Nigeria) — Toluwalope Okunade Ebiseni
- The Professional (2025, United States) — Kunle Fasasi
Student Shorts (Out of Competition)
- Angel In The Stone (2023, Nigeria) — Doyinsola Ajayi
- Brushed Dreams (2024, Nigeria) — Itorobong Joan Asanga
- Soeur Celeste (2025, United States) — Itorobong Joan Asanga