Festival Schedule
Friday, September 24 (Click to Expand)
6:00 pm | Breaking Ground | Director: Inès Girihirwe (Rwanda) 13min | English Camera d’Afrique / 20 Years of African Cinema | Director: Férid Boughedir (Tunisia) 1h 40mins | French with English Subtitles |
Saturday, September 25 (Click to Expand)
10:00am | Symposium: Cinema and Black Empowerment |
1:00pm | Ethereality | Director: Kantarama Gahigiri (Rwanda) 13 mins| English The Unknown / L’Inconnu | Director: Simplice Herman Ganou |13 mins | French/English/German/Swiss with English Subtitles A New Country / Un Nouveau Pays | Director: Sifiso Khanyile (South Africa) 1hr 1min | English |
3:00pm | Against All Odds / Envers et Contre Tout | Director: Samirath Mansah (Benin) 12 mins | French with English Subtitle Addur | Director: Ahmed Baidou (Morocco) 1h 25mins | Arabic with English Subtitles |
6:00pm | 5 Étoiles / 5 Stars | Director: Mame Woury Thioubou (Senegal) 19 min | French with English Subtitles Mofiala | Director: Boris Kpadenou (Togo) 28min | French with English Subtitles Awa! | Director: Déborah Basa (DR Congo) 27min | Lingala with English Translation |
7:45pm | The Last Dance / La Dernière Dance | Director: Fatoumata Diallo (Senegal) 14min | French with English Subtitle Reste d’une Frontiere | Director: Steve Fotso (Cameroun) 13min | French with English Subtitles Khamis 1984 | Director: Mohamed Bouzaggou (Morocco) 1hr 15min | Arabic with English Subtitles |
Sunday, September 26 (Click to Expand)
1:00pm | 28 Days / 28 Jours | Director: Jahëna Louisin (Togo) 11min | French with English Subtitles Hall Monitors / Moniteurs de Salle | Directors: Tope Babalola (Canada) 1hr 32min | English | PG |
3:15pm | Timoun Aw / Your Kid | Director: Nelson Foix (Guadeloupe/France) 27 mins | Creole/French with English Subtitles Mother to Mother / Mère à mère | Director: Sara CF de Gouveia (South Africa) 48min | English |
4:45pm | Simi | Director: Johnson E. Awolola (Nigeria) 8min | English A Taste of Our Land / Goût de Notre Terre | Director: Yuhi Amuli (Rwanda) 1h 24min | English |
6:30pm | The Happiest People / Les Gens Les Plus Heureux | Director: Julius Morno (Nigeria) 20min | English Rasta | Director: Samir Benchikh (Côte d’Ivoire) 28min | French with English Subtitles Fish Bowl / Bocal à Poisson | Director: Ngabo Wa Ganza (Rwanda) 14 mins |English |
8:00pm | The Test / Le Test | Director: Bisong Taiwo (Canada) 9min | English Residue | Résidu | Director: Merawi Gerima (USA) 1h 30min | English |
About the Festival
The African Movie Festival in Manitoba (AM-FM) is an annual spring event held in Winnipeg, Manitoba that showcases the best of African Cinema and that creates a platform for Afro-Canadian dialogue. AM-FM consist of movie screenings, interview sessions with directors/producers/actors, cocktail receptions, and cultural activities including dances, food and entertainment. Full feature movies, shorts and documentaries are screened in French and English from Nigeria, South Africa, Ethiopia, Burkina Faso, Senegal, Mali and other African countries.
AM-FM is organized by Manitoba African Film Festival Inc., a non-profit organization based in Winnipeg, Canada. The organization and festival is advised by a committee consisting of Dr. Sheila Petty (University of Regina), Dr. Brenda Austin-Smith (University of Manitoba), Dr. Onookome Okome (University of Alberta), and Dr. Mbaye Cham (Howard University), Dr. Sarah Buchanan (University of Minnesota, Morris).
Manitoba African Film Festival Inc. was founded in 2017 by Dr. Ben Akoh.
4th Annual Symposium: Cinema and Black Empowerment

Keynote: Tamara Dawit
Tamara Mariam Dawit is an Ethiopian-Canadian producer and director. Her most recent film is the award-winning documentary Finding Sally which premiered in 2020 at Hot Docs. She is currently producing the feature documentary Made in Ethiopia and two Ethiopian feature dramas.
In addition to producing, Tamara works as an advisor in the screen sector on programming and policies to address equity and inclusion. In Canada, she is a founding board member of the Racial Equity Media Collective and in Africa, of Ethiopia Creates and the East Africa Screen Collective. Tamara was a resident in Docs in Progress, the Logan Non-Fiction Residency and is an alumnus of Berlinale Talents, Durban Talents, Doha Producers Lab, Rotterdam Lab, Apost, and EAVE.
Now Showing on June 30
Testimonials
A Special Thanks to Our Sponsors

Meet our Team
BEN AKOH
Founder/President
BRENDA AUSTIN-SMITH
Adviser
SHEILA PETTY
Adviser
MBYE CHAM
Adviser
ONOOKOME OKOME
Adviser
SARAH B. BUCHANAN
Advisor
CHIGBO ARTHUR ANYADUBA
Adviser
ÉTIENNE-MARIE LASSI
Adviser
NANDOZIE EKEOCHA
Volunteer
BABATUNDE O. ONIKOYI
Volunteer
Babatunde O. Onikoyi is coeditor of The Cinema of Tunde Kelan: Aesthetics, Theatricalities and Visual Performance (Cambridge Scholars, 2021). He is also film reviews editor with African Studies Review; the flagship Journal of African Studies. He currently teaches African Screen Media and Postcolonial Studies in Adeleke University, Nigeria. He has articles published in numerous book volumes and Journals including, Black Camera, African Studies Review, African Studies Quarterly, Journal of African Cinemas, Africology : Journal of Pan African Studies and Journal of Media and Communication Research. He is currently working on book which reflects new directions in Nollywood.