• Khanya Mtshali

Although films like 'The Woman King' offer us a small glimpse into the past, they cannot give us the full story.

• Christopher McMichael

The crime drama 'Reyka' looks at violence in the troubled South African province.

• Franziska Fay

Amil Shivji’s latest film, 'Vuta N’Kuvute,' is a gift, not only to the people of Tanzania, Zanzibar and its diasporas, but to the world.

• Thierry Michel

To put an end to general indifference about the 25 years of political violence in DR Congo, filmmaker Thierry Michel chooses to show the worst atrocities and to name the war criminals.

• Noah Tsika

'Neptune Frost,' written and co-directed by Saul Williams, knows that extraction is everyone’s problem.

• Julie MacArthur

Director Shameela Seedat’s film about trainee lawyers provides a sort of celebration of youth on this continent and a vision of the next generation of Africans.

• Zachary Levenson

The historian Premesh Lalu’s film about an apartheid-era cinema on the Cape Flats also offers a glimpse of a future beyond racism for South Africa.

• Matt Swagler

The film 'Congo Oyé,' pulled from the archives of a New York City library a decade ago, explores different interpretations of revolution, Black sovereignty and liberation.

• Eyerusaleam Kassahun
• Steven W. Thomas

For most outsiders, modern Ethiopian cinema means Haile Gerima and Salem Mekuria. But others, in addition to these, made its rich cinema history.

• Wangui Kimari

The lesson from political economist Rok Ajulu’s academic work and activism: it’s not enough to change the “tenants,” but fight to change both the “state” and all of its houses.

• Noah Tsika

Lindsey Green-Simms’ book "Queer African Cinemas" explores the intersections of postcolonial thought, queer theory, and screen media.

• Ishmael Beah

A new film, "Sing Freetown" (director: Clive Patterson) and accompanying theater project from Sorious Samura and Charlie Haffner attempt, with varying success, to sing a different song of Freetown.

• Yirga Gelaw Woldeyes

The desire to be absorbed into and consumed by the West, to find solace in its seductive promises, animates Robin Dimet’s film, “Sami’s Odysseys.”

• Marame Gueye

Maky Madiba Sylla is a militant filmmaker excavating iconic Africans whose legacies he believes need to be known widely—like the singer Laba Sosseh.

• Mathijs Cazemier

Between melancholy, terror, and disillusion, Petit Pays is a groundbreaking and eye-opening take on one of the darkest pages of African history, one that is often misunderstood in the West.

• Liani Maasdorp

If committed filmmakers want to reach and influence more people, and counter fake news, impact producing may help get us there.

• Marame Gueye

The documentary film Mane about two women—a rapper and a wrestler—is a much-needed boost of fresh air in the male-saturated tale of the “Generation hip hop” of Senegal.

• M. Ainomugisha

Kenyan filmmaker Jim Chuchu explores the struggle between indigenous cultural practice and Pentecostal Christianity.

• Hugo ka Canham

Although overlooked this awards season, a new film by Lebohang Jeremiah Mosese deserves your attention.

• Ryan Skinner

The film "Africa Mia” (2019), directed by Richard Minier and Edouard Salier, explores the musical connections between Cuba and Mali.