The 23rd Cannes Pan-African Film Festival is under way on the French Riviera, and much of its programming is still ahead. The festival runs through Sunday, Oct. 25, at the Espace Miramar, with more than 50 films from Africa, the Caribbean, Europe and the Americas.
Canadian director Jephté Bastien, who chairs the fiction jury, opened the festival Wednesday night with his latest film, “Face to Face.” Actress and producer Astrid Siwanker leads the documentary jury, and voice actress Maïk Darah, known in France as the dubbing voice of Whoopi Goldberg and Angela Bassett, is among the jurors.
Thursday’s draw is “Nyota, the Children of Light,” a documentary by Vanessa Kabwela and Idriss Gabel that follows children marked by the wars in eastern Congo. In a Kivu orphanage, siblings Chantal and Paulin, both born of wartime rape, meet for the first time and set out to find their mother.
Friday leans toward memory and music. “Amílcar,” by Miguel Eek, profiles Amílcar Cabral, the agronomist, poet and anticolonial leader of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde who was assassinated in 1973. “Kaloubadya” follows Réunion-born Marine Sigismeau as she explores her family’s silences. At 7:30 p.m., “Tukki: From the Roots to the Bayou,” by Alune Wade and Vincent Le Gal, traces cultural links across the Atlantic through jazz, food and parade traditions. Haitian kompa and zouk group Dynamique Express is also on the bill for a film-concert.
On Saturday, “Valdiodio” screens alone at 2:30 p.m. Director Amina N’Diaye Leclerc draws on the story of her father, Valdiodio N’Diaye, a Senegalese independence figure accused of plotting against the state, and tells it through the eyes of a 10-year-old girl. The day also brings a conference by Les Mariannes de la Diversité and the Pan-African gala dinner at 8 p.m. at the Hôtel Martinez, where the Sublime Fashion Show by Donatela is on the program.
Sunday brings “Rusambo,” by Angela Zivo Gapa, at 2:30 p.m., set during a lobola ceremony in Zimbabwe that is upended when the dowry mysteriously disappears. “Le masque de San,” by Sarasin Jacques, follows a man and an African mask on a road trip back to Mali.
The Dikalo Awards, named for the Douala word for “message,” close the festival at 8 p.m. Sunday, with nine categories covering fiction and documentary features and shorts, performers and a peace prize, followed by a final concert.
Beyond the screens, this year’s festival expands to include the Cannes Pan-African Films and Arts Market, a space for creators. Photojournalist François Maurel will show an exhibition, and Samuel Ivaha Diboua, governor of Cameroon’s Littoral region, will sign a book on the Batanga Indigenous people presented at last year’s festival.
Screenings and meetings with filmmakers take place at the Espace Miramar and are free for Cannes residents. Teams behind several films are expected to attend, including those for “Valdiodio,” “Kaloubadya,” “Rusambo” and “Le masque de San.”
