The 28th Edition of AFF: The African Diaspora in Focus
The 28th edition of AFF is dedicated to the African diaspora. The festival’s overarching theme is Transmission as a Keystone for Culture. This theme serves as the guiding thread for the international conference Humanizing Arts, Media & Culture, which takes place on Friday, 21 April. For Belgian filmmakers and artists of African descent, it provides an opportunity to present their highly diverse, surprising, and often little-known work. Their contributions will undoubtedly open up new perspectives for the future development of AFF.
This year, for the first time, a prize of €500 will be awarded in the Diaspora in Focus competition, made possible through the support of the AfricaMuseum. The competition features eight Belgian short films directed by Belgians with African roots.
On 30 April, AFF will host a panel discussion on diversity and inclusion in the media and cultural landscape entitled Another Talk About Inclusivity. AFF deliberately chose this title because numerous talks, debates, lectures, and conferences have already been devoted to diversity. While the message is clear, achieving greater diversity both on screen and in the workplace remains a challenging process. Nevertheless, AFF believes the conversation remains necessary. This time, the focus is on practical solutions. In collaboration with mediarte, AFF seeks to explore not so much the “why” as the “how” of creating a more inclusive sector.
The documentary White Balls on Walls serves as the starting point for the discussion, which will feature panellists from the media sector sharing their experiences and recommendations. The film follows the efforts of Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam and its director, Rein Wolfs, as they work towards greater diversity within both the museum’s collection and its staff.
As the face of this year’s festival, AFF has chosen the promising actor and director Welket Bungué from Guinea-Bissau, who has distinguished himself through a number of international productions, including Belgian films. Brussels-based actress Lubna Azabal is also in the spotlight this year through our Artist in Focus programme. AFF has followed her career since 1999, beginning with Sieste Grenadine by Mahmoud Ben Mahmoud. It is therefore fitting that Mahmoud Ben Mahmoud will receive the 2023 Lifetime Achievement Award.
For the jury of the Flemish UNESCO Commission, the documentary competition focuses on the theme of intangible cultural heritage. AFF considers it its mission to further distribute the winning film throughout Flanders.
AFF is also collaborating with the City of Leuven and KU Leuven on the Leuven Human Rights City initiative, within the framework of which a selection of special films dedicated to human rights will be presented.
For the 28th edition of the Africa Film Festival, our regular photographer Kris De Witte is publishing a photo book entitled Transmission, featuring established and emerging stars of the film world in front of his camera. Among those featured are Welket Bungué, the face of this edition and known for Crimes of the Future and Berlin Alexanderplatz; Lubna Azabal from Incendies; Joely Mbundu from Tori et Lokita, the latest film by the Dardenne brothers; Eriq Ebouaney from Lumumba; Zahia Dehar from Easy Girl; Leïla Bekhti; Alex Descas from 35 Shots of Rum and Coffee and Cigarettes; Chelsea Harris from Top Gun; Almamy Kanouté from Les Misérables; and Makita Samba from Paris, 13th District (Les Olympiades), among others.
This year, AFF once again received more than 2,400 film submissions, primarily for the YAFMA short film competition. To manage this impressive volume of entries, a dedicated selection committee was established to choose the short films competing in the festival. The YAFMA awards for fiction and documentary, together with the results of the other juries—including the international student jury—will be announced during the festive Awards Night on 5 May.
As usual, screenings will take place at Kinepolis, Cinema ZED, M Leuven, ABVV, and Wagehuys/30CC, where the theatre production Meet Me Halfway by Adams Mensah will also be presented.
AFF is equally active online. Its YouTube channel offers interviews for audiences seeking deeper insights, while the second edition of the International YouTube Competition provides young African filmmakers with an opportunity to gain international exposure. AFF is once again partnering with Dalton to make a selection of outstanding films available on its VOD platform.
Finally, AFF would like to express its gratitude to Barbara Brugmans. She became General Coordinator at a difficult moment following the sudden passing of Guido Huysmans in the summer of 2014. For eight years, she served as the public face and key point of contact for the festival. She now passes the torch to a new generation.