Lagos film festival opens with Lady, gathering African cinema for seven days

Lagos · Culture · Nov. 1, 2026 · The 15th Africa International Film Festival (AFRIFF) opened in Lagos on Sunday and runs for a week to November 7, with screenings across venues on Victoria Island and in Lekki. The opening film is Lady, the feature directorial debut of Nigerian filmmaker Olive Nwosu, shown as an invitation-only screening; the festival's theme, 'Frames of the Future: Africa's Creative Intelligence', looks at how technology, financing models and distribution are reshaping African cinema.

An opening film about a Lagos taxi driver at night

Lady follows one of Lagos's few female taxi drivers, who is saving for a one-way bus ticket to Freetown when driving a group of women working the city's streets at night changes the course of her life — including a childhood friend she has not seen for years. The film premiered in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Special Jury Award for Acting Ensemble, before screening at the Berlinale and the BFI London Film Festival; AFRIFF is its homecoming screening on the African continent.

Market, masterclasses and closing night

Alongside screenings, the week includes industry discussions, masterclasses and networking sessions; the second Africa Film and Content Market (AFCM) runs November 2 to 5 at Twinwaters in Lekki, connecting creators with buyers, investors and distributors. The closing film is It's the Blackness, the directorial debut of actor Hakeem Kae-Kazim, and the festival ends November 7 with the AFRIFF Globe Awards. The official programme lists about 130 selected films, while opening-day reports describe the screenings as spanning eight categories.