Wednesday, 28 January 2026, 3:38 pm Press Release: Original Spin
Africa Film Fest Australia (AFFA), curated by Mumbi Hinga
and Safia Amadou and presented in partnership with Arts
& Cultural Exchange (ACE), today announces its national
expansion in 2026, arriving in Melbourne Friday 27 to Sunday
29 March at Cinema Nova, following two successful years of
festivals in Sydney.
(Photo/Supplied)
Festival
Co-Director Safia Amadou said, “After multiple sold-out
screenings in Sydney in 2025, AFFA is bringing bold, joyful
and thought-provoking African films to Melbourne audiences.
Featuring award-winning work from Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria,
Sudan, Algeria and Guinea-Bissau, the program reflects a
growing appetite for African cinema, placing African voices
at the centre of Australian screens.”
The Festival
opens with The Fisherman, the first Ghanaian film
officially selected for the Venice International Film
Festival, where it was awarded UNESCO’s Fellini
Medal (Enrico Fulchignoni Prize) in recognition of its
message of peace, tolerance and intercultural
dialogue.
(Photo/Supplied)
The
Melbourne program includes:
Opening Night Film -
The Fisherman (Ghana | Melbourne Premiere) - A
whimsical, politically astute film that follows a retired
coastal fisherman whose quiet life is disrupted when he
forms an unlikely friendship with a talking fish, resonating
with audiences across the globe.
Nawi (Kenya
| Melbourne Premiere) - Winner of Best International
Feature and Best Debut Performance at the 2025
Raindance Film Festival in London. A young girl sold for
livestock escapes an arranged child marriage to pursue an
education. An urgent, hopeful story of resistance in rural
Kenya. Nawi will be co-presented with Kenya Community
Victoria.
Fanon (France/Algeria | Melbourne
Premiere) - A political drama following psychiatrist and
philosopher Frantz Fanon in colonial Algeria, as his radical
approach to mental health care intersects with the
country’s growing independence movement. The screening
will be followed by a Q&A with the film’s director,
Jean-Claude Flamand-Barny.
Nteregu
(Guinea-Bissau | Melbourne Premiere) - Winner of Best
Documentary (Audience Award) at FestIN 2025 (Festival de
Cinema Itinerante da Língua Portuguesa). A lyrical
documentary tracing the origins and global influence of
Guinean music, centring women’s voices and ancestral
instruments in the formation of national identity. Nteregu
will be co-presented with African Music and Cultural
Festival.
My Father’s Shadow (Nigeria |
Melbourne Premiere) - Received a prestigious Caméra d'Or
Special Mention at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival and
winner of the 2025 British Independent Film Award for
Best Director. Set over a single day in Lagos, a father
takes his two sons across the city during a period of
political unrest, revealing the quiet tensions, tenderness
and responsibilities of parenthood against a backdrop of
social upheaval.
This Jungo Life (Sudan |
Melbourne Premiere) - Winner of Best Documentary at
the 2025 Bantu Film Festival (Botswana, 2025) and Best
International Documentary at Festiwal Filmowy NNW 2025.
An unflinching documentary portrait of young Sudanese men
living on the margins, capturing daily survival, friendship
and resilience amid displacement, poverty and ongoing
conflict. This Jungo Life is co-presented with SmartFone
Flick Fest Pty Ltd (SF3) and the screening will be followed
by a Q&A with the Melbourne-based film Director David
Fedele.
Festival Co-Director Mumbi Hinga said,
“Bringing the Festival to the Cinema Nova allows us to
share these powerful stories with new communities and
continue building space for African voices on Australian
screens. It cements our role as a national platform for
African cinema, cultural exchange and diverse
storytelling.”
AFFA Melbourne is presented by Arts
& Cultural Exchange (ACE) and Cinema Nova, with support
from Weir Anderson Foundation, Ubuntu Project, Kenya
Community Victoria, SF3, and the African Music and Cultural
Festival.
