African filmmakers are particularly present in the 76th CFF. Many of the entries come from Northern Africa with Arab presence being enumerated in the article published in Ahram Online last week.

Undeniably Morocco leads Africa this year with five films at Cannes: The Mother of All Lies (Kadib Abyad) by Asmae El Moudir, Les Meutes by Kamal Lazraq, Ayyur by Moroccan Zineb Wakrim, Little Girl Blue by Mona Achache, and Déserts by Faouzi Bensaïdi.

And of course, Morocco has filmmaker Maryam Touzani as a juror of the International Competition. 

Egypt is represented by films such as I Promise You Paradise by Morad Mostafa and El-Toraa (The Call of the Brook) by Jad Chahine. 

Moreover, the Egyptian filmmaker Haya Khairat will receive the Angénieux Special Encouragement Award while the Cairo International Film Festival (CIFF) will participate in three events associated with the CFF.

Tunisia shines with Four Daughters (Les Filles d’Olfa) by Kaouther Ben Hania and The Nature of Love (Simple Comme Sylvain) by Monia Chokri. 

Algeria is represented by Firebrand by Karim Aïnouz and Omar la fraise by Elias Belkeddar.

And we should not forget the historical contribution to the CFF by Mohamed Kordofani whose debut feature film, Goodbye Julia, will be the country's first entry to the Cannes competitive segment.

With North Africa (and Sudan) carving its strong presence, let's have a look at the central, southern and western regions of the continent, also represented by films in the International Competition and within the Directors' Fortnight segment, as well as a jury member of the International Competition.

International Competition

This is the main competitive segment of the festival, in which films compete for the top award, the Palme d’Or.

Banel and Adama

Written and directed by French Senegalese director Ramata-Toulaye Sy, the film follows a young couple in Senegal who must contend with the disapproval of their remote village.

Starring Khady Mane, Mamadou Diallo and Binta Racine Sy, Bane and Adama is an extension of a short film by Ramata-Toulaye Sy and entitled Astel (2022). Astel won the grand prize at the Odense International Film Festival, and was awarded the special jury prize at the Clermont-Ferrand festival, among other awards. 

Ramata-Toulaye Sy also co-wrote feature Sibel which garnered numerous awards and nominations, including nomination to Best Screenplay award at the Turkish Film Critics Association (SIYAD) Awards

Rungano Nyoni (Zambia) and Maryam Touzani (Morocco) on jury panel of International Competition

Cannes-regular Zambian-Welsh director and screenwriter, Rungano Nyoni debuted with 20 Questions and The List (2009) which won her a BAFTA Cymru Award. Her following film Mwansa the Great (2011) was nominated at the BAFTA. Her film Listen (2014) received the Best Narrative Short Award at the Tribeca Festival.

Nyoni's first feature I’m Not a Witch premiered in Cannes and won the BAFTA for Outstanding Debut in 2018.

She is currently editing her upcoming feature On Becoming a Guinea Fowl.

Touzani, launched her career as a film critic and directed two notable short films, Quand ils dormant (When They Sleep) and Aya va à la plage (Aya Goes to the Beach), before collaborating with Nabil Ayouch on Much Loved and co-writing and starring in Razzia.

Her first feature film, Adam, was selected for the Un Certain Regard at the Festival de Cannes in 2019 and shortlisted for the Oscars.

She then collaborated once again with Nabil Ayouch, with whom she co-wrote Razzia – a film in which she also starred – and Casablanca Beats, selected in Competition for the Festival de Cannes in 2021.

Touzani returned to the festival as a director with The Blue Caftan in 2022, which was selected for Un Certain Regard and shortlisted for the Oscars. She is currently working on her first novel and her next feature film.

Directors' Fortnight section

A parallel selection of the CFF which aims to present the most singular and visionary practices of contemporary cinema is this segment which has highlighted the practices of numerous filmmakers who make significant contributions to the world of cinema.

Mambar Pierrette

Directed by Cameroonian Rosine Mbakam, the film is a Belgian-Cameroonian coproduction.

Oscillating between fiction and documentary, the film presents the journey of a courageous mother (Mambar Pierrette).  The plot is interwoven in a picture of the economic situation and the place of women in Cameroon.

Mbakam has directed numerous short and feature films, often focusing on documentary formats. Her films have garnered numerous awards at the international festivals.

Critics Awards for Arab Films

The Arab-African cinema is also celebrated through the Critics Awards for Arab Films. 

Organised by the Arab Cinema Center (ACC) the final nominees for the seventh edition of the awards have been revealed and include numerous films from Morocco, Tunisia, and Ethiopia.

The complete list of the nominees is provided here.