Africa Film Festival Köln

From September 17 to 27, 2026, the Cologne Africa Film Festival will open a multifaceted cinematic space where contemporary perspectives from over twenty African countries and the diaspora come together. Over the course of about ten festival days, the program will feature feature films, documentaries, and short films, complemented by discussions with directors, thematic panels, and other discussion-based formats. The annual specials released in advance offer a glimpse of how consistently the festival brings together cinematic styles, political themes, and artistic experiments. Traditionally, the festival is spread across several venues in Cologne, often including the Filmforum NRW, the REX Kino, and the OFF Broadway. Official details on the final venues are still to come, but the curatorial focus is already taking shape: cinematic works that explore identity, processes of social transformation, and historical trajectories, as well as formats that create space for exchange between filmmakers and attendees. It is precisely this dialogic dimension that has shaped the festival for years and forms the foundation for in-depth explorations of the history, present, and future of African film cultures.