33rd New York African Film Festival 2026
African and Diasporic Storytelling
Theme: “As the Stars Sow the Earth”
– Town Hall Forum, Africa Center, East Harlem, May 1
– Film at Lincoln Center, May 6-12, $19
– Maysles Documentary Center, Harlem, May 15-17
The Festival also curates FilmAfrica, a companian to BAM’s wonderful DanceAfrica which spotlights Uganda this year.
– FilmAfrica, BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music), May 22-28
– FilmAfrica, St. Nicholas Park, Harlem, May 30
33rd New York African Film Festival 2026
The opening night film is the New York premiere of “Promised Sky” by Erige Sehiri. It’s about a woman who gets help from an Ivorian pastor living in Tunisia. 🇨🇮 🇹🇳
The centerpiece film is “The Eyes of Ghana” by Ben Proudfoot. The story of Kwame Nkrumah’s personal cinematographer, Rev. Dr. Chris Tsui Hesse, was produced by Barack and Michelle Obama. Nkrumah was the Ghanaian politician who led Ghana’s independence from the UK in 1957, becoming the first African country to break free from colonial rule. Hesse’s work was thought to have been destroyed, but he kept the negatives in London. Going blind at 93 years-old, filmmaker Anita Afonu worked with Hesse to recover the films and make this story. It’s a big deal. 🇬🇭
It’s worth nothing that decolonization is only about three generations old. It takes a long time to recover from 500 years of colonization. In the USA, we are still decolonizing. That’s where a lot of today’s racial nonsense comes from. The nonsense is built into our culture. The process seems to be two steps forward, one step back. But we have to keep going, especially now. Remember to vote. That is more important than ever now.
Also of note is Idris Elba’s first short film “Dust to Dreams.” It’s a family drama set in a Lagos nightclub. 🇬🇧 🇳🇬
In all, there are more than 100 films from over 30 countries, with the most from Uganda.
There are African films from Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Libya, Mali, Morocco, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan/South Sudan, Tunisia, Togo, Uganda. 🇧🇫 🇨🇻 🇨🇮 🇨🇩 🇪🇬
There are Diasporic films from Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Jamaica, United Kingdom, and the USA.
Kíko ~ In my own Puerto Rican Lucumí-influenced spiritual tradition, before we dance or start a project, we ask Eleguá, God’s messenger, to open a road to the divine. Eleguá manifests in life in the number 3 and multiples of 3. So the 33rd New York African Film Festival suggests good fortune. ¡Maferefún Eleguá!
As the Stars Sow the Earth
What a great theme because we are all made of stardust. It hints at our divine origins.
Academic literature does not acknowledge this (because we are a multigenerational diaspora), but the African Diaspora is by far the world’s largest. It is also the Diaspora with the greatest impact on contemporary culture.
The theme is a reference to African and Diasporic spirituality, a continuous source of strength, pride, and resilience. In the Americas, African spiritual traditions survived 500 years in secret at home. But as the rituals become popular, they tend to lose their original religious meaning.
African Diasporic religious traditions are the foundation of both Latin culture and American culture. Fon culture became Vodou which created merengue, jazz, and dembow. Yoruba culture became Lucumí which created rumba, rock, salsa, and hip-hop. Kongo culture became Candomblé which created samba and bossa nova in Brazil, son jarocho in Mexico, and tango in Argentina and Uruguay. In the States, they took away the drum, and we got the blues, the root of most American popular music and dance, including jazz, folk, rock, and hip-hop.
Ultimately, African Diasporic culture has become global popular culture ~ though many people don’t realize it. Even K-pop has R&B roots. So the stars (African Diasporic Religions) really have sown the earth by creating contemporary popular culture.
And instead of hiding the traditions like we’ve done for 500 years, now is the time to proud of our heritage ~ all of it. To quote Sly Stone, “Everybody is a star.”
¡Aché!