The Black Star International Film Festival (BSIFF) has announced the Official Selection for its 11th edition, bringing together films and filmmakers from 11 countries for this year’s festival, taking place from 24th to 27th September 2026 at Golden Eagle Cinemas in Kumasi, Ghana.

The announcement follows submissions representing 42 countries across Africa and the wider world, reflecting the international reach the Ghana-founded festival has built over more than a decade.

In an unexpected coincidence, 11 countries have made the final selection for BSIFF’s 11th edition.

The countries represented in the final programme are Ghana, Nigeria, Uganda, United States, South Africa, Zimbabwe, China, Cameroon, Singapore, Dominican Republic and Russia.

The selection brings together established film forms and newer modes of storytelling across the International Showcase, Ghanaian Showcase, Student Showcase, Documentary, Africa Rising, Animated Films, AI Generated Films and Kumawood, with additional films presented as Special Screenings.

The breadth of the programme reflects an increasingly expansive understanding of cinema at BSIFF, one that makes room for international filmmaking while deliberately maintaining space for Ghanaian cinema, emerging African filmmakers, students, animation, new technology and locally rooted popular filmmaking traditions.

A festival looking both home and outward

At the centre of the 2026 programme is a deliberate balance between international exchange and the development of cinema at home.

The Ghanaian Showcase gives Ghanaian filmmakers a dedicated competitive platform, while Africa Rising highlights emerging African filmmaking voices. The inclusion of Kumawood takes on particular significance as BSIFF moves to Kumasi this year, placing the festival within a city and filmmaking culture that has played an important role in bringing Ghanaian stories, local languages and popular cinema directly to audiences.

At the same time, the International Showcase brings films from outside Ghana into conversation with African work, creating the kind of cultural exchange that has been central to BSIFF since its establishment.

The inclusion of AI Generated Films also signals BSIFF’s interest in the changing technological landscape of filmmaking and the opportunities and questions emerging technologies present for African storytellers.

Film & Global Culture: The New Wave of African Cinema

BSIFF 2026 is being held under the theme:

“Film & Global Culture: The New Wave of African Cinema.”

The theme reflects a central question running through this year’s festival: what will define the next era of African cinema?

Across its screenings, conversations and industry activities, BSIFF 2026 will explore four areas the festival believes are increasingly important to that future: building African audiences, strengthening local-language cinema, examining AI and the future of African storytelling, and paying greater attention to the mental health and wellbeing of creatives.

These conversations sit within BSIFF’s broader mission of promoting the business of film and bringing cinema closer to the people.

The festival has increasingly argued that the future of African cinema cannot be measured only by how African films travel internationally, but also by whether African audiences are watching, valuing and economically sustaining African stories at home.

From 42 countries to the final 11

The geographic spread of this year’s submissions provides another indication of BSIFF’s international footprint.

Filmmakers submitted work representing 42 countries, including Ghana, Nigeria, Uganda, South Africa, Senegal, Kenya, Cameroon, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Angola and Libya, alongside the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Brazil, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Switzerland, Belgium, Denmark, Spain, Finland, the Netherlands, Ukraine, Russia, China, Japan, Singapore, India, Mexico, Colombia and others.

From that international pool, films representing 11 countries emerged in the final selection.

For BSIFF, however, the numbers are not simply a measure of scale. They point to the festival’s continuing role as a meeting place where stories rooted in very different communities can encounter one another and encounter audiences in Ghana.

BSIFF comes to Kumasi

The 11th edition also marks an important geographical chapter for the festival as BSIFF heads to Kumasi.

The choice of Kumasi connects the festival more directly with one of Ghana’s most distinctive filmmaking traditions and reinforces BSIFF’s continuing focus on building local audiences and bringing cinema closer to the people.

From 24 to 27 September, Golden Eagle Cinemas will host screenings alongside conversations and other festival activities bringing together filmmakers, industry professionals, students, creatives and audiences.

The move also provides an opportunity for international filmmakers attending or participating in BSIFF to encounter a part of Ghana whose cultural identity has had a profound influence on the country’s popular storytelling traditions.

Eleven editions of building a film platform

First held in 2015, BSIFF enters its 11th edition as Ghana’s longest-running international film festival.

Over the past decade, the festival has developed as a platform not only for exhibition, but for conversations about the structures required to build a sustainable film industry in Ghana and across Africa.

Its history has intersected with some of the important institutional developments within Ghana’s contemporary film ecosystem. The process that eventually led to the establishment of Ghana’s National Film Authority was announced on the BSIFF platform, after which BSIFF Founder Juliet Asante was appointed to establish the Authority and serve as its founding Chief Executive.

The festival has also enjoyed longstanding engagement with UNESCO Ghana, including participation in conversations around the development and potential of Africa’s film and audiovisual industries.

As it moves into its second decade, BSIFF is increasingly positioning itself not simply as a place where films are screened, but as a platform where questions about audiences, language, technology, creative wellbeing, culture and the business of African cinema can be explored.

The Black Star Experience begins

With the Official Selection now announced, BSIFF will begin introducing audiences to the individual films, filmmakers, conversations and experiences that will make up the 2026 festival.

The Black Star International Film Festival invites audiences in Ghana and beyond to come to Kumasi this September and be part of the Black Star Experience.

BSIFF 2026
24 to 27 September 2026
Golden Eagle Cinemas, Kumasi, Ghana

www.bsiff.org

About the Black Star International Film Festival

The Black Star International Film Festival (BSIFF) is a Ghanaian international film festival dedicated to promoting the business of film, supporting independent filmmakers, developing audiences and connecting African cinema with the world.

Since its first edition in 2015, BSIFF has provided a platform for filmmakers from Ghana, Africa and across the world through film exhibition, industry conversations, education, cultural exchange and audience engagement.

Its 11th edition takes place from 24 to 27 September 2026 in Kumasi, Ghana, under the theme “Film & Global Culture: The New Wave of African Cinema.”