Main Highlight Beams On African Cinema At 2025 Crimson Sea Movie Competition’s Souk Challenge Market
The Crimson Sea Worldwide Movie Competition (Crimson Sea IFF) has introduced its checklist of function movie and sequence tasks for this yr’s version of the Crimson Sea Souk Challenge Market, with African movies taking centre stage.
The Crimson Sea Souk Challenge Market is a platform powered by Crimson Sea IFF, designed to bolster worldwide co-productions and grant entry to new tasks and expertise.
Twenty-four of the chosen titles are at the moment in improvement or manufacturing, twelve of which have been developed by Crimson Sea Labs over the previous yr as a part of the Characteristic Movie Programme. The ultimate choice additionally consists of eight feature-length works in progress and eight episodic tasks.
Tasks In Growth And Manufacturing
ABOUT LOVE AND SEPTEMBER LAWS by Mohamed Kordofani (Fiction) – Sudan: In 1983, as Sharia Legislation is enforced, a physician, a translator, and an African-American journalist grow to be entangled in love and resistance amid a nation’s political upheaval.
COUMBA by Mamadou Dia (Fiction) – Senegal: A police inspector returns to his hometown to research a homicide linked to a mysterious spirit. Because the Wolf Moon rises, he faces the city’s fears, hidden rituals, and a previous that refuses to remain buried.
NKANAI by Bruno Tanya (Debut, Fiction) – Kenya: After a devastating harm leaves her paralyzed, Samburu’s first feminine warrior rejects exile. With solely a haunted tracker by her aspect, she braves northern Kenya’s ruthless bandits, betrayal, and unforgiving terrain to reclaim her dignity and residential.
PRICE OF EVIL by Ibrahim Mursal (Debut, Fiction) – Sudan: When his grandfather is murdered, Ahmed should determine the killer’s punishment in response to Sudanese regulation: jail, forgiveness or the dying penalty. We observe him as he faces an inconceivable choice with monumental penalties for himself and his household.
SPACEMAN IN KONGO by Maisha Maene (Debut, Artistic Documentary) – Democratic Republic of the Congo: Two younger rocket engineers, propelled by the reminiscence of African dreamers and a resilient perception of their homeland, work on constructing the primary Congolese house programme.
TO CATCH A FALLING SKY by Cheta Chukwu (Fiction) – Nigeria: In 1966, as civil struggle erupts, an excellent however childless girl should confront her husband’s devastating option to deliver house a second spouse, forcing her to decide on between resentment and an unthinkable alliance as their nation collapses round them.
Works In Progress
BENIMANA by Marie-Clémentine Dusabejambo (Debut, Fiction) – Rwanda, Gabon, Ivory Coast: Veneranda, a survivor of the Tutsi genocide working for reconciliation, should face her outdated demons when her daughter unexpectedly will get pregnant.
LA PYRAMIDE by CJ ‘Fiery’ Obasi (Fiction) – Nigeria, Senegal: Souls throughout three continents should confront the darkness that guards the sunshine they search.
Sequence Lab
MAD BOUNTY AND THE MIDNIGHT GUN by Talemwa Pius – Uganda: In 1885, Western Uganda, outlaw Mad Bounty hunts the British commander who killed his mom solely to uncover the Midnight Gun, a local weapon of uncooked energy. To assert it, he should outwit the British and rival factions.
MONEY TOWN by Tony Koros – Kenya: When a tech millionaire showers free cash on a humble Kenyan village as soon as held collectively by cups of borrowed sugar, all hell breaks unfastened, and solely shrewd however illiterate Lel can hold the insanity from boiling over.
TILL DEATH DO US PART by Tomi Folowosele – Nigeria: A grieving girl defies an historic rule to see her useless husband one final time, tearing open the veil between life and dying and awakening one thing on the opposite aspect that has come to gather what’s owed.
These productions have been chosen from 1900 functions obtained from the Competition’s focus areas of the Arab World, Asia and Africa. 18 filmmakers have had their debut options chosen, and over 42% of the tasks are created by feminine filmmakers.
Holly Daniel, Crimson Sea Souk Director, mentioned: “Our Souk Challenge Market is an important a part of the Crimson Sea Movie Basis’s ecosystem – performing as a vibrant hub for brand spanking new voices to collaborate on modern tasks and concepts. Celebrating a 5 yr arc of this programme additionally means we’re welcoming again earlier alumni with new work, which is a mark of the rising legacy of the Souk. This yr’s choice of titles is numerous, inventive and highly effective and supply large alternatives for improvement, and we’re wanting ahead to introducing them to new potential trade companions on the fifth version of the Competition in December.”
All chosen tasks can be thought of for the Crimson Sea Souk Awards offered by the Crimson Sea Fund. These awards provide essential monetary assist at varied levels of a undertaking’s lifecycle, together with improvement, manufacturing, and post-production.
The Crimson Sea Souk Challenge Market will happen from sixth to tenth December, 2025.