The African film and football industries have growing international reach so why are two talented filmmakers struggling to raise finance?
When multi-talented Argentine cinematographer Fabián Ribezzo landed in Mozambique in 2005 he arrived with a suitcase full of camera gear and his own prejudices. What he learned in the decade he spent living and working in the former Portuguese colony on the Indian Ocean was that things are never quite how they are portrayed by the media or in the movies. Big global media, and blockbuster movies that is.
“Mozambique was totally different to what I expected. It was another place altogether,” he says. It wasn’t full of fly-ridden children and landscapes stricken by war and poverty. Like everywhere, he found that life was complex, could be tragic, even violent, but it was also humming with dance, music, culture, and laughter. “The biggest lesson for me from Mozambique was that humour is the bridge to connection,” he says.
Now living in Reggio Emilia, Italy, he’s perfecting the script for his tragically hilarious full-length feature film. It is based on one of his many experiences while making and screening educational videos, documentaries and fictional films for international development agencies on everything from urban planning to public health.
The film tells the tale of what happens when the tables turn for his central character Elena, a European aid worker. Stripped literally and figuratively bare, in an ironic twist she finds herself roaming a coastal village and forced to ask for help from the people she was sent to help. What transpires is not ‘maningue nice’. The phrase, and working title Ribezzo has chosen for his comedy, commonly used lingua franca by people across Mozambique, and translates as ‘very nice’, or ‘awesome’.
The process of securing funding for production of the film is not very nice either. In fact, its effing and blindingly difficult, but Ribezzo is maningue determined. “I believe my film is investable for many reasons. For one it's a comedy. Two the timing might be right.”
I believe my film is investable for many reasons. For one it's a comedy. Two the timing might be right
–– Fabian Ribezzo
The myth of the ‘dark continent’, no longer funny, nor true
In 2026, African film had a strong opening. Nigeria’s My Father’s Shadow, directed by Akinola Davies Jr,. gained international recognition, winning a BAFTA for Outstanding Debut. In Europe, there were three African co-productions in the running for the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival. Across the pond, for its January festival, the US Sundance Institute, which received 16,000 submissions from 164 countries, selected three films from the continent.
In short, African films are resonating with global audiences, and strengthening its cultural identity among international viewers whose media still too often portrays it as the 'dark continent', a narrative Ribezzo dismisses as "ridiculous, crazy”. Neither does Kenyan cinematographer and director Michael Chege, whose work has taken him to Europe, and the US, and who has a body of work spanning award-winning feature films, documentaries, television commercials, game shows, and high-end photography.
“People see Africa in a bad light until they come here and see for themselves. I mean we have white people walking around everywhere now. It's so easy,” he says.
That he has to even say this is, quite frankly, ridiculous, but his comment shows that perceptions of a dark and dangerous continent still run deep. Not only is that unfair, it’s also ill-informed.
“The big misconception about Africa is that it’s impossible to shoot, but I beg to differ. African markets are versatile and dynamic, and standards around equipment and expertise have risen," he says.
Michael Chege on location in Kenya
The big misconception about Africa is that it’s impossible to shoot, but I beg to differ. African markets are versatile and dynamic, and standards around equipment and expertise have risen
–– Michael Chege
Unlike Western cinema, many industries, particularly Nigeria’s Nollywood, largely bypassed celluloid due to high costs, limited lab infrastructure, and import barriers. This leapfrog directly into video and then digital production enabled filmmakers to operate independently of foreign funding and build high-volume, locally relevant industries. Today, affordable digital tools, from smartphones to 4K cameras, combined with platforms such as Netflix, Showmax and YouTube, are expanding reach and visibility, though monetisation remains uneven.
Lower barriers to entry are fostering new talent, supported by a young, mobile-first population with median age around 19. Digital distribution and marketing tools also allow independent filmmakers to reach audiences directly, partially offsetting traditional constraints around funding and promotion.
Technical shifts have thus lowered the barrier to entry while providing a testing ground for new talent. With a median age of around 19 across many regions and high levels of mobile ownership, a new generation of tech-savvy creators is using tools like AI and smart filmmaking to bypass traditional barriers to entry. The digital revolution is also helping tackle the challenge of effective marketing which requires resources many filmmakers lack. The democratisation of digital marketing tools means even independent filmmakers can reach audiences directly through social platforms, email lists, and community engagement.
But the rise of tech, and most recently the explosion of generative AI, has delivered challenges for many of Africa’s filmmakers. “Funding has dried up, and budgets have been cut. We’re expected to do more for less,” says Chege, who is also on the hunt for finance for a sports docudrama. The story is based on the memoir Illegitimately Blessed, a story of growing up illegitimate and mixed race in Scotland, and a return to ancestral roots via football. He met the author, Ricky Weir, while filming the first ever promotional video for the Kenya Walking Football Federation, a body promoting low-impact, non-contact football for adults. “Ricky was on one of his many trips to Kenya donating football jerseys, balls and expertise from the UK, and he was refereeing. “I was intrigued about his perception of the world and his passion for Africa,” he adds.
Comedy and sport are arguably no-brainers for the Africa’s film and audio-visual sector, which has, according to UNESCO’s landmark report, enormous potential. Forecast to deliver a vast $20bn in annual revenues and support over 20 million jobs. Another opportunity is the projected size of Africa’s film and audiovisual sector with audience numbers forecast to grow from 250 million viewers in 2025 to over a billion by 2035.
However, today only a fraction of that is being realised, most of it in Nigeria. Of the $5 billion that the sector currently contributes to the continent’s gross national product, Nigeria’s ‘Nollywood’ powerhouse produces the majority––with around 2,500 films annually.
Nigeria and South Africa are the main markets for the two biggest streaming platforms, Netflix and DSTV, and film makers there are most likely to secure funding. “Elsewhere, they mostly let you shoot your production out of pocket and then pick-up once you finish off,” Chege says. Therefore, most Africa filmmakers today find themselves crowdfunding or “begging corporates”, which sometimes works, but can come with its own creative compromises. “Often the script is owned by whoever invests the money,” he adds.
That’s less of a worry for Ribezzo. “I don’t love dialogue so much. Mute films are perfect,” says the huge fan of Charlie Chaplin. The influence did not go unnoticed at the 2014 International Film Festival in Rotterdam, where his multi-award winning, acutely observed, short film A Tropical Sunday, received this review: ‘As if Charlie Chaplin was still alive and lived in Mozambique.’
A BOOMING INDUSTRY
US$20bn – Potential annual value of Africa's film and audiovisual industry
20 million+ – Potential jobs supported across the sector
250 million → 1 billion+ – Projected growth in African viewing audiences between 2025 and 2035
US$5bn – Current contribution of the sector to Africa's gross national product
2,500 – Approximate number of films produced annually by Nigeria's Nollywood
19 – Median age across much of Africa, creating one of the world's youngest creative talent pools
Location, location, location––and local content
Africa's "amazing kids" could benefit from investment in the film industry
For Ribezzo, post-production isn’t so much of a concern, nor is distribution. The main issue is production. ‘If I can do it for €200,000, we won’t lose money,” Ribezzo says, and thinks he can. It’s his film and he’s working for free. So is his co-director, Mozambican Diaz Santana, his “dearest friend, and also a very good actor”. Another friend, an Austrian musician and sound engineer will handle the soundtrack in Mozambique, where he has lived for 25 years.
Ribezzo knows he couldn’t make the film without Santana, who was his first assistant on A Tropical Sunday. “Diaz helped to set up and run 200 auditions for the incredible, amazing kids we cast,” Ribezzo says. His funny poignant short film follows scavenging street children around a funfair in the capital Maputo and shows how sheer grit and talent wins them the ultimate ride. “He’s the perfect person to direct actors and talk with local people,” Ribezzo says.
Much harder will be casting Elena, who Ribezzo sees as white British, German or Scandinavian. They should be willing to roam around a rural African village in their underwear, be very talented, and ideally famous. Germany’s Sandra Hüller would be first prize but Laure Calamy, Kate Winslet or Olivia Colman are also on his list.
But won’t that be too risky? The question annoys Ribezzo. He can only speak for Mozambique, but he wants to film in southern Inhambane Province, known as “the land of the good people”. Home to one of South Africa’s historic cities, palm tree groves, famous archipelagos, sweet tangerines and the long white beaches of the wild and warm Indian Ocean, it is where Vasco da Gama stopped on his way to India in 1498.
At least some of Chege’s film will be shot in Kenya. As the UN’s Africa headquarters are based in Nairobi, he says there are plenty of safe places for foreign crews to stay, and local fixers that can help support productions in less salubrious areas. Outside the slum story, that keeps visitors stuck in locations they believe safer, Chege says, “there are beaches, city, wildlife, mountains––it’s the best of all worlds in one location”
Ribezzo’s film doesn’t need a hundred locations. Set in the microcosm of a village that occupies a small slice of Inhambane’s sub-tropical paradise, it explores petty thefts, small lies, unrequited love, human corruption and desire. It reveals what happens when Europe’s good intentions meet Africa’s traditions. It’s a funny, very funny, universal story, using mostly local talent, that more than ever people need, and many want to hear.
Why film elsewhere when you have all the drama of Africa? There are beaches, city, wildlife, mountains––it’s the best of all worlds in one location
It's time to score
Given its scale and innovation, African film is now attracting large-scale capital and aiming to build long-term infrastructure rather than one-off “passion projects”. There is the dedicated Afreximbank Film Fund, which has $1bn to finance production, distribution, and digital infrastructure. The International Finance Corporation in digital production platforms like "Filmmakers Mart" to centralise services and is collaborating with partners like EbonyLife Media to create investment vehicles.
Meanwhile, the European Union has been providing financial backing to help African film makers move from script to screen, incentivising EU-Africa co-production, to take films to international festivals and build professional capacity, through a combination of financial grants, co-production incentives and capacity building programmes. Film and the creative industries are now integrated into the EU’s Global Gateway strategy, which links cultural investment to broader goals of job creation and social cohesion. Key programmes include the ACP-EU Culture Programme, funded with around €40m for use in a “cascading grant” system to support feature films, documentaries and series and the EU-UNESCO Technical Assistance initiative which helps African nations develop legal frameworks for their film industries.
“It all sounds so good on paper, but it’s not so easy,” snorts Ribezzo, who is not only the director and scriptwriter, but is also fast having to learn to be a producer. Chege agrees and wants to understand how you secure these funds. His team has written a “rigorous” 500-page document on why his docudrama is investable and they are exploring multiple options for funding. You would think he might get lucky. Early research from the indicates that the beautiful game played in Africa has growing reach, emotional resonance and exportability. The 2026 FIFA World Cup has provided further evidence that the timing might be right: a record nine African nations progressed beyond the group stage, Morocco reached the quarter-finals, and debutants Cape Verde emerged as one of the tournament’s most compelling underdog stories. The harder challenge is persuading investors.
Ribezzo may not be making a film about football but he is Argentine: "I’m one of those people who follow football in a low-key sort of way, but during the World Cup, I go wild. And this morning I woke up feeling very Argentine, and I thought: I’m in the 57th minute of my life, so now I’m going to score three goals. In fact, I’ve got three screenplays."
This morning I woke up feeling very Argentine, and I thought: I’m in the 57th minute of my life, so now I’m going to score three goals. In fact, I’ve got three screenplays
He is funny but it won’t be funny for him or Chege if they fail to score the finance they need––modest though that is. Ribezzo says he needs €200,000 to fund his film. Chege believes he needs half that, around €96,000 to shoot in four locations: Scotland, Jersey, Nigeria and Kenya.
So, if there are any investors out there, willing to take a punt on passion in a fast-growing sector, with exploding audiences on a continent that is anything but dark, then that would be maningue nice.
Watch Fabián Ribezzo's award-winning short film –– A Tropical Sunday