African Cinema's Powerful Presence at the 76th Berlin International Film Festival
The 76th edition of the Berlin International Film Festival, known as Berlinale, is witnessing a remarkable surge in African cinematic representation. This year's festival, running from February 12 to 22, 2026, features three African films competing for the prestigious Golden Bear award, marking a significant moment for continental storytelling on the global stage.
Golden Bear Competition: African Filmmakers Take Center Stage
Among the twenty-two films vying for the top prize, three powerful African entries demonstrate the continent's growing influence in international cinema. These are not token inclusions but substantial works competing in the festival's most prestigious section.
À voix basse by Tunisian director Leyla Bouzid presents a restrained family drama about a woman returning to Tunisia for her uncle's funeral, where she confronts buried tensions and personal secrets. Bouzid first gained international recognition with As I Open My Eyes and continues to explore intimate narratives.
Dao by Franco-Senegalese filmmaker Alain Gomis takes an experimental approach, blurring the lines between casting, performance, and narrative as it traces a diasporic family divided between Paris and Guinea-Bissau. Gomis is a Berlinale veteran who previously won the Grand Jury Prize for Félicité in 2017.
Soumsoum, la nuit des astres by Chadian auteur Mahamat-Saleh Haroun explores mysticism through the story of a teenage girl chosen to inherit a fragile spiritual world as its aging guardian prepares for death. Haroun, long regarded as one of Africa's most significant filmmakers, previously won the Jury Prize at Cannes for A Screaming Man.
Their presence follows Mati Diop's historic Golden Bear win for Dahomey in 2024, demonstrating how African cinema has moved from orbiting the global festival space to firmly shaping its most prestigious tier.
African Films Across Festival Sections
Beyond the main competition, African cinema is well represented across multiple Berlinale sections, showcasing the breadth of voices and storytelling approaches from the continent.
In the Perspectives section, Chronicles from the Siege by Abdallah Alkhatib offers a fragmented, non-linear portrait shaped by lived experience rather than conventional narrative. The film focuses on collective endurance and survival rather than a single protagonist.
The Generation 14plus section features Black Burns Fast by South African director Sandulela Asanda. This film follows Luthando, a scholarship student at a conservative all-girls boarding school, whose quiet life is disrupted by a new student named Ayanda. Their secret romance becomes both liberating and dangerous, forcing Luthando to confront institutional pressure, class dynamics, and her own identity.
Short Films and Experimental Works
Short-form storytelling also receives significant representation. Les âmes du Fouta by Alpha Diallo reimagines Antigone within a Fulani village in northern Senegal, where a grieving mother challenges tradition to give her son a dignified burial.
Taxi-Moto by Gaël Kamilindi blends fiction and conversation, reconstructing a censored queer love story through dialogue and shared imagination, demonstrating the innovative approaches emerging from African filmmakers.
Nigerian Cinema's Notable Presence
Nigeria makes a significant impact at Berlinale 2026 through multiple entries across different sections. Olive Nwosu's debut feature Lady, selected for the Panorama section, represents the country's most prominent narrative presence. The film premiered earlier this year at Sundance, where it won the World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award for Creative Vision.
Beyond narrative cinema, Nigerian involvement extends to documentary and experimental works. Crocodile, a documentary co-directed by Nigerian collective The Critics Company and New Zealand filmmaker Pietra Brettkelly, will premiere in the Forum section. The film documents Nigerian teenagers who use improvised tools and imagination to create handmade sci-fi films within their village, capturing cinema as play, survival, and political expression.
Also screening in Forum Expanded is Karimah Ashadu's short documentary Muscle, which observes bodybuilders in Lagos through close-up shots focusing on texture, movement, sound, and ritual rather than linear narrative. The film invites reflection on visibility, labor, and the Black male body without resorting to stereotypes.
Additionally, Nigerian screenwriter and director Dika Ofoma has been selected for the Berlinale Talents programme, joined by Ghanaian film critic and journalist Alice Johnson. Ofoma is known for short films such as Obi Is a Boy and represents the next generation of African cinematic talent.
A Transformative Moment for African Cinema
For years, the global film circuit often treated African cinema as a special interest niche, frequently relegated to late-night experimental slots. However, with four features in the Main Competition and significant Nigerian representation across multiple sections, the narrative has fundamentally changed.
The 76th Berlinale demonstrates that African filmmakers are no longer peripheral participants but central contributors to global cinematic discourse. Their diverse approaches—from intimate family dramas to experimental documentaries and queer coming-of-age stories—showcase the richness and complexity of African storytelling.
This year's festival marks a pivotal moment where African cinema is not just present but actively competing for and potentially winning the highest honors, signaling a new era of recognition and influence for continental filmmakers on the world stage.
