African cinema has a significant presence at the Toronto International Film Festival this year, with ten African films selected across the festival programme and a Global African Hub providing a base for the continent’s filmmakers at the TIFF market.
Five African productions and co-pros will appear in the festival’s Centrepiece alone: The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives, Ben’Imana, Congo Boy, Future Tense and Soumsoum and The Night of the Stars.
John Trengove’s The Smell of Apples will also world premiere in Platform, while Ghanaian feature Zjili: A Story of Sisterhood and the Burdens of Excess will screen in Discovery. Six African works-in-progress will also have market screenings at TIFF.
Meanwhile, a Global African Hub will provide a base for the continent’s filmmakers and executives to connect with international partners.
The Hub is backed by pan-African institution Canex Creations, a subsidiary of Afreximbank’s Fund for Export Development in Africa, that was launched in 2025 to help expand the reach of the continent’s creative sector.
Canex has invited African industry partners to participate in the hub, including Nigeria’s FilmOne Entertainment, Natives Filmworks and MBO Capital and South Africa’s Gambit Films.
It is significant step up in TIFF activity for Canex, which last year attended with short film Dust to Dreams, directed by Idris Elba.
Canex also invested in Lagos-set Clarissa, starring Sophie Okonedo, Ayo Edebiri and David Oyelowo, which screens as a TIFF special presentation after world premiering at Cannes.
Canex has also backed market screening Muganga, The One Who Treats directed by Marie-Hélène Roux and produced by Cynthia Pinet and Angelina Jolie. The film premiered in French cinemas last year, scoring over 300,000 admissions.
Osahon Akpata, CEO of Canex Creations, said: “African IP has enormous global potential, and our role is to provide the investment, infrastructure and market access required to convert that potential into sustainable creative businesses.”
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