This is the first ever Berlinale Spotlight Screening in Ghana and on the African continent is slated for November 13 to 17, 2024.

The Berlinale Spotlight Screening will take place in partnership with the GIZ, the Goethe-Institute, UniMac-IFT and GAFTA. 

Berlinale is among the top 5 A-list film festivals in the world, alongside Cannes, Venice, Toronto and Sundance. 

The motivation and aim for the Berlinale Spotlight Screening Accra is to promote and strengthen African films and filmmakers on the African continent, to signal their interest in the region and to subsequently get more film submissions. 

Furthermore, it is also an effort to bring back these films to the African audience.

So far, these films have mainly been circulating at international festivals such as the Berlinale.

At this year’s Berlinale there were a total of 14 African films, mostly co-produced with European countries. 

For the first edition of the Berlinale Spotlight Screening, a selection of seven films will be shown: Who do I belong to? (Tunisia/Canada), first feature film by Meryam Joobeur; Dahomey (Benin/France), by Mati Diop; The nights still smell of gun powder  (Mozambique/Germany), first feature film by Inadelso Cossa; Black Tea (Taiwan/Cote D’Ivoire/Cape Verde/China), by veteran filmmaker Abderrahmane Sissako, and Disco Afrika (Madagascar/Germany), first feature film by Luck Razanajaona.

Others are Certain Winds from the South (Ghana), directorial debut by Eric Gyamfi, and Letter from my Village (Senegal), by Safi Faye (deceased 2023)

These films tackle the issues of identity, particulary in DAHOMEY which touches on the matter of cultural identity, where university students in Benin have a lively debate about it. 

Corruption and post-colonial struggles are reocurring in DISCO AFRIKA, THE NIGHTS STILL SMELLS OF GUN POWDER deals with civil war, the wounds it leaves and the collective memory. 

WHO DO I BELONG TO? deals with the central role of women in a predominantly Islamic society, spirituality and relationships being tested. 

CERTAIN WINDS FROM THE SOUTH also deals with gender, gender role, movements from the rural to the urban sector, and the resulting constraints and divides of traditional family structures.

Sissako’s latest film focuses on migration to the East and the relationship between Africans and Chinese.

There will also be three panel discussions on the themes reflected in the films.

The screening venues are, NAFTI hostel, the NAFTI Studio and at the Goethe-Institute, detailed information will follow in th coming days.