Keith Shiri appointed lead curator of Film Africa 2024

Keith Shiri has been appointed as lead curator of Film Africa 2024. Source: royalafricansociety.africa-newsroom.com

As well as being the founder and director of Africa at the Pictures, a London-based festival of African cinema, Shiri is a programme adviser to the London Film Festival and a founder member and current chair of the Africa Movie Academy Awards, and has advised the curation of international film festivals including the Venice Film Festival, the Berlin International Film Festival, the Dubai International Film Festival, the Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou and the Tampere Film Festival.

He is also the Regional Secretary (Europe) for the Federation of African Filmmakers (FEPACI), and a Visiting Research Fellow at the Centre for Research and Education in Arts and Media (CREAM) at the University of Westminster.

Shiri sits on the advisory board of New York’s Focus Features Africa First Programmed, which has long supported young African filmmakers through its mentorship programme.

In keeping with the Royal African Society and Film Africa’s ethos of expanding access to, and inclusion within, African culture and perspectives, the festival’s programme and emphases will reflect input from and be enriched by a diverse range of curators, filmmakers, and critics, to reflect the complexity and nuances of different African and diasporic voices.

Shiri said “I am excited to join Film Africa as a curator. African artistry – especially in cinema – is experiencing a period of unparalleled invention and experimentation, and Film Africa provides the ideal forum in which to share these cultural treasures with audiences from the continent, as well as Britain’s various diaspora communities and the wider British public. I look forward to working to assemble a bench of films and speakers to progress our collective conversation about African film – as well as African cultural trends and the perspectives of those whose continent will, this century, emerge as the world’s most important and populous.”

Film Africa 2024

In 2024, Film Africa will take place from 25 October - 3 November continuing its mission of highlighting African and African diaspora filmmaking. The Festival is now open to submissions from African and African diasporic filmmakers.

All entries will be considered for inclusion in the Festival and prizes will be awarded to two entries: The Baobab Award for best short film and the Film Africa Audience Award for best feature-length entry. Both awards have a £1000 cash prize.

Film Africa accepts films of all lengths and genres, including fiction, documentary, shorts and experimental.
Year of production must be 2020 or after - any films made before this will not be considered.

The main objective is to represent a wide range of films and filmmakers stemming from Africa and the African diaspora. Submissions will only be accepted from African and African diaspora filmmakers.

For more, go to www.FilmAfrica.org.