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Who We Are
African Film Press (AFP) is an operating publishing, research, and intelligence organization serving African and African-diaspora film, television, and digital media activity, alongside the international institutions, companies, and professionals who engage with those sectors.
Formed in 2024 and completing its first full year of operation in 2025, AFP consolidates documentation, analysis, and professional reference across Africa's screen sectors. Its work builds directly on the established foundations of three editorial platforms:
- Akoroko, serving pan-African and diaspora-wide intelligence needs
- Sinema Focus, providing East African coverage anchored in Kenya
- What Kept Me Up, specializing in Nigeria and Anglophone West Africa
AFP operates as a single alliance with shared editorial standards, research methods, and cumulative datasets, while maintaining regional depth and linguistic specificity.
The AFP Alliance
A strategic alliance of three distinct but interconnected platforms, ensuring both pan-African scope and deep regional specificity.
Serves as a central hub for pan-African and diaspora-wide intelligence.
Provides dedicated coverage of East African screen sectors, anchored in Kenya.
Delivers specialized insights into Nigeria's Nollywood and the broader Anglophone West African market.
What AFP Produces
AFP publishes verified, professional-grade intelligence for industry practitioners, institutions, researchers, and policymakers working with African and African-diaspora screen activity.
Across 2025, AFP published more than 1,000 original intelligence items, including:
- News reporting and time-sensitive industry dispatches
- Long-form analysis and commissioned research reports
- Film and television criticism and contextual essays
- Interviews with filmmakers, producers, executives, and funders
- Festival and market coverage from major international and regional events
- Funding, finance, and distribution tracking
- Structured datasets documenting projects, institutions, and market activity
This output supports both immediate decision-making and long-term reference use.
Intelligence, Data, and Tracking
AFP maintains an internal, continuously updated research system tracking more than 400 screen projects across film, television, and digital media.
This system documents:
- Development, production, and distribution pathways
- Institutional funding decisions and financing structures
- Festival selections and market participation
- Policy actions and regulatory developments
- Cross-border distribution and circulation activity
The dataset spans African territories, diaspora production contexts, and related international markets. It underpins AFP's editorial reporting, advisory work, and commissioned research.
Our Products
Akoroko Premium
AFP's intelligence work is delivered through two connected products:
Akoroko Premium, a subscription service launched in April 2024, provides regular access to in-depth reporting, analysis, and data-driven intelligence. By December 2025, the service had tripled its paid subscriber base across Africa, Europe, North America, South America, and the Caribbean, with localized pricing active in ten African markets and Jamaica.
Akoroko Premium is used by a concentrated cross-section of professionals working at decision-making levels across African and international screen ecosystems, including festival programmers, producers, development financiers, academics, and institutional stakeholders.
African Screen Intelligence (ASI) is AFP's internal, AI-native research and data system used to organize, verify, and track information across African and African-diaspora screen sectors. ASI supports longitudinal analysis, institutional reporting, and professional research use, functioning as a cumulative reference base rather than a news feed.
Together, these products support sustained analysis for a professional and institutional subscriber base, reflecting the utility of structured, verifiable intelligence in environments where reliable information remains unevenly available.
2025 Highlights
Throughout 2025, AFP published over 1,000 unique intelligence dispatches and actively tracked more than 400 screen projects.
Global Engagement and Recognition
AFP's work has been validated across market, academic, institutional, and media contexts, reflecting its role as a reference point for African and African-diaspora screen activity.
Competitive Selections
Selected for the Berlinale EFM Startups 2025, a European Film Market initiative supporting media and technology companies operating at market scale. Also selected for the Moving Pictures Incubator, where AFP was announced as a grant recipient in December 2024.
Academic & Institutional Engagement
AFP leadership participated in a range of academic, festival-embedded, and institutional programs across Europe, Africa, and the Middle East in 2024–2025, reflecting sustained engagement beyond press access.
Invited to present at the University of Cambridge in 2025 for a symposium marking the 60th anniversary of Ousmane Sembène's "La Noire de…", contributing to academic discussion on African cinema history and circulation.
Participated in the Locarno Film Festival as part of the first cycle of Open Doors: Africa, with on-the-ground reporting and behind-the-scenes access to the program's Africa-focused cohort, documenting development processes and professional exchange.
Engaged with the Red Sea International Film Festival in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, with on-site reporting and professional access to African-linked programming and industry activity.
Participated in the Marrakech International Film Festival, reporting from the festival and engaging with filmmakers, programmers, and institutional stakeholders.
Attended the San Sebastián International Film Festival, engaging with festival leadership and market participants as part of AFP's ongoing international festival documentation.
At the Durban International Film Festival, AFP founders presented on "The Future of Film Festivals" as part of the residency program and participated in additional professional panels addressing festival structures and industry development.
At the Cannes Film Festival, AFP leadership moderated and participated in panels at Pavillon Afriques during the Marché du Film and took part in public conversations at African House, including a session on literary adaptations and African screen storytelling.
In addition to the engagements listed above, AFP maintained an on-the-ground reporting presence at multiple international festivals during the 2024–2025 period, including the Sundance Film Festival (United States), Berlinale (Germany), Toronto International Film Festival (Canada), Africa International Film Festival (AFRIFF) (Nigeria), Nairobi Film Festival (NBO) (Kenya), and the New York African Film Festival (NYAFF) (United States), contributing to ongoing institutional documentation across regional and market contexts.
Commissioned Work & Advisory
Completed two commissioned research reports for major international institutions in 2025. Ongoing advisory engagement with organizations including GIZ (Germany), Dalberg Media (Denmark), and the UN-backed International Trade Centre (Switzerland).
Media Recognition
Provided expert commentary on the BBC World Service's "World Business Report" on the Canal+/MultiChoice acquisition. Commissioned contributor to Sight & Sound (June 2025). Cited by Little White Lies as one of five recommended publications for African cinema coverage.
Media Partnerships
AFP and its founding platforms have served as official media partners for key international festivals and industry platforms, providing structured coverage, editorial coordination, and on-the-ground reporting.
AFP served as the official and exclusive media partner for the NollywoodWeek Film Festival in Paris, France, supporting the festival's international visibility and professional documentation.
Akoroko served as the official media partner for Pavillon Afriques during the Marché du Film at the Cannes Film Festival, producing dedicated coverage and participating in industry programming.
AFP Critics Prize
The AFP Critics Prize is a critics' award dedicated to African film criticism within international festival contexts, designed to establish a consistent, professional presence for African critics within festival ecosystems.
Inspired by the FIPRESCI model, the prize is awarded by AFP-selected African critics and is presented at four festivals each year. It was created to formalize the role of African critics in festival evaluation and discourse, particularly in contexts where critical participation has historically been limited or informal.
The prize was launched in August 2025 during AFP's first public event in Nairobi, Kenya. The inaugural award was presented in December 2025 at the Surreal16 Film Festival in Lagos, Nigeria, where it was awarded to Nigerian filmmaker Dika Ofoma for his short film "Obi Is a Boy." The prize includes a cash award and an official AFP certificate.
Entering 2026: Strategic Priorities
Building on a revenue-positive baseline and established institutional engagement, AFP enters 2026 with defined expansion priorities.
Expanding the Alliance
Strengthening regional reporting capacity across additional African regions and language contexts.
Enhancing ASI
Advancing African Screen Intelligence (ASI) to deliver more granular, searchable, and longitudinal intelligence for institutional partners.
Growing Premium Subscriptions
Targeting 5X subscriber growth through integrated marketing, outreach, and the launch of new content options.
Formalizing Institutional Relationships
Converting ongoing discussions into formal partnerships with universities, development agencies, and cultural institutions.
Unified News Desk
Developing a unified, daily pan-African and diaspora news operation to sit alongside AFP's long-form intelligence and data work.