Important Dates

Cinema Africa returns in January 2026 for the concluding chapter of its 2025/26 edition, curated by Prof. Dr. Ute Fendler and presented by the Africa Multiple Cluster of Excellence at the University of Bayreuth. Now in its 17th year, the festival celebrates the artistic vitality and narrative richness of African cinema through a curated selection of films that span genres, regions, and histories. Across November and December 2025, audiences have already engaged with remarkable works such as Ar condicionado and Our Lady of the Chinese Shop (with filmmaker Erivaldo Claver) as well as the biographical feature Fanon (with filmmaker Jean-Claude Barny), each accompanied by discussions that deepen understanding and dialogue.

In January 2026, Cinema Africa culminates in a programme of four screenings that foreground innovative voices and compelling stories from the continent, inviting audiences to explore diverse perspectives through film and conversation. More than a film series, Cinema Africa fosters cultural exchange, critical engagement, and community interaction –advancing the Cluster’s mission to bring African narratives into scholarly and public conversation.

Sunday, 25.01.2026 | 8 pm

Sol de Carvalho: The Anchorage of Time (Mozambique)  

(105 min, Mozambique/Portugal, 2024), Portuguese, Makua, English subtitles

Izidine, a recently promoted Police Detective, is called to an elderly home set in a former colonial fortress to investigate a crime: Vasto Excelêncio, the home’s director has been murdered. Marta, the home’s nurse tries to steer the investigation to the real crime, the home’s very own existence. Izidine is confronted with a surprise: all the residents confess that they are the murderer. Their motives going from the way the director treated the elderly, beating them, the domestic violence perpetrated by the director on his own wife, or the nurse confessing a love affair with the deceased who forced her to have an abortion. The detective will slowly discover that the real crime was a revenge.

The film is based on the novel “Under the Frangipani” by the internationally renowned writer Mia Couto.

Opening with music by the film's actor Stewart Sukuma (accompanied by Matchume Zango)

Stewart Sukuma is a Mozambican musician, composer, writer, actor, and musical director, widely regarded as one of the most internationally active Mozambican artists of his generation. Over several decades, he has developed a multidisciplinary practice spanning music, cinema, and literature, marked by conceptual rigor, social awareness, and a strong resistance to exoticized or simplified representations of Africa. His work engages deeply with contemporary Mozambican realities, exploring themes such as time, memory, identity, power, ethics, and collective responsibility through intellectually demanding and urban forms of expression. In cinema, Sukuma has played an important role as a composer, musical director, and actor, collaborating with leading Mozambican filmmakers. His approach to film music is structural and narrative, treating sound as a space of memory and an extension of the image rather than a decorative element. This is exemplified by his work for Ancoradouro do Tempo, directed by Sol de Carvalho and based on a text by Mia Couto, which he presents in Bayreuth. Alongside his film work, Sukuma has pursued an extensive international music career across Africa, Europe, and the Middle East, including long-standing collaborations in Europe. As a writer and public intellectual, he advances a critical vision of culture as a field of ethical responsibility and historical awareness, affirming African artistic production as a vital and engaged presence in global cultural discourse.

Monday, 26.01.2026 | 8 pm

Dani Kouyaté: Katanga - The Dance of the Scorpions

(Burkina Faso, 2025), Mooré, English subtitles

In the imaginary kingdom of Ganzurgu, King Pazouknaam narrowly foils a plot to overthrow him. To consolidate his power, he appoints his cousin Katanga as head of the army. Faced with the magnitude of his mission, Katanga consults a fortune teller. The prophecy is unequivocal: one day, he will ascend to his cousin’s throne. With KATANGA, LA DANSE DES SCORPIONS, director Dani Kouyaté offers a dreamlike reinterpretation of William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, adapting the classic Western drama into a universal political tale set on the African continent.

The film won the Yennenga Golden Stallion at FESPACO 2025.

Photo: Dani Odile Motelet

Guest: Dani Kouyaté, filmmaker
Dani Kouyaté (born 1961 in Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso) is a filmmaker, storyteller, and educator whose work bridges African oral traditions, cinema, and contemporary social themes. Trained at the Institut Africain d’Éducation Cinématographique in Ouagadougou, he continued his studies in France, earning degrees from the Sorbonne, the International School of Anthropology in Paris, and Université Paris 8. After touring Europe and the United States with La Voix du Griot, founded by his father, he began his film career with Bilakoro (1989) and co-founded Sahelis Productions. His first feature, Keïta! L’Héritage du griot (1995), won major awards at FESPACO and Cannes. His films – including Sia, le rêve du python, OuagaSaga, Soleils, and While We Live – explore myth, politics, identity, and African–European relations. Based in Sweden since 2007, Kouyaté also teaches film, theatre, and anthropology in Uppsala, and his latest film, Katanga – The Dance of the Scorpions (2025), is an African adaptation of Shakespeare’s Macbeth.

Tuesday, 27.01.2026 | 8 pm

Zoey Martison: The fisherman (2024) 

(Comedy, 100 min, Ghana/USA 2024), English, English subtitle

Guest: Kofi Owusu-Afriyie (producer)

The comedy film follows Atta Oko, a Ghanaian fisherman, who teams up with a talking fish and his young colleagues Shasha, Kobina, and Emmanuel to go to Accra and chase their dreams of owning a boat. THE FISHERMAN is a criticism of Accra`s urbanism, a warning on the loss of fishing culture in Ghana, a reminder of the ways we destroy our environment and a caution on technology’s erosion of tradition. Overflowing with laughter, magic, and the rich culture of Ghana, THE FISHERMAN is a heartwarming tale of family, resilience, and the enduring spirit of a true fisherman.

Kofi Owusu-Afriyie
Kofi Owusu-Afriyie is a seasoned Ghanaian producer with over 15 years of experience in international film production. He is the co-founder of Luu Vision Media and producer of The Fisherman, which premiered at the 2024 Venice Biennale and won UNESCO’s Fellini Medal. The feature was based on his award-winning short of the same name, which aired on HBO and won honors at Diversity at Cannes and PAFF. Kofi’s credits include The Wave (MTV/Paramount+), Water & Garri (Amazon Prime), and work with Vice Media, Big World Cinema, and Egg Films. He is known for building impactful global collaborations and delivering world-class content from West Africa. 

Wednesday, 28.01.2026 | 8 pm DOUBLE FEATURE

28.01.2026 / 7:30 pm DOUBLE FEATURE

Guest: Ottis Ba Mamadou (director of 2nd film)

Ottis Ba Mamadou: Dent pour Dent (Tooth for Tooth)

(84 min, Senegal, 2023) French, Wolof, EnglishSubtitles

Augustin lives in the suburbs of Dakar, Senegal. He lost his job as a civil servant as a result of budget cuts ordered by the IMF. The day his redundancy money runs out, he is forced to live off his wife Viviane. He then searches by all means for a way to regain his pride as a man that he thinks he has lost ...

*** Unfortunately, Ottis Ba Mamadou is unable to attend the presentation ***

Ottis Ba Mamadou
Réalisateur Franco-sénégalais, Ottis BA a d’abord débuté une carrière d’acteur au théâtre et au cinéma. Auteurs de plusieurs courts-métrages, il réalise en 2022, son premier long métrage, Dent pour Dent. Le film est sélectionné dans de nombreux festivals à travers le monde et remporte plusieurs prix du meilleur film.