Durban FilmMart: Tanzanian-Kenyan documentary sweeps five of the 39 awards at the African film market

The Durban FilmMart, the leading co-production market for African cinema, concluded its 17th edition on Monday, October 12, 2026, in Durban, South Africa, with an awards ceremony. The event, held from October 9 to 12 under the theme "Shifting Worlds: Turning Towards Ourselves," brought together 1,131 professionals from 56 countries, according to the organization as cited by the South African daily TimesLIVE.

In total, 39 awards provided by 30 partners were presented, with a value exceeding 2 million rand, or more than 120,000 dollars.

Five awards for Neema Ngelime and Ivy Kiru

The most awarded project is "The Ones With the Tempered Flowers," a co-production between Tanzania and Kenya, directed by Tanzanian filmmaker Neema Ngelime and produced by Kenyan producer Ivy Kiru under the banners of AQ Pictures and LBx Africa. This experimental documentary examines the body, family history, and the expectations imposed on women in Tanzania, according to the specialized website Sinema Focus.

The project won five distinctions: the South African National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) grant for best documentary, worth 100,000 rand, as well as awards from the DOK Leipzig, Movies that Matter, Sheffield DocFest, and Visions du Réel markets and festivals, which provide access to professional meetings in 2027.

Nigeria, Ethiopia, Sudan, and Libya recognized

The two other 100,000 rand grants from the NFVF went to the Nigerian fiction project "The Boy Who Spoke Static," led by the Agbajowo collective, and the Ethiopian animated film "Sunday Morning," directed by Minasie Terefe. Three 10,000 dollar prizes were awarded: the Ford Foundation's JustFilms prize to the Algerian documentary "The Thread and the Wall" by Mouni Bouallam, the Al Jazeera co-production prize to the Palestinian project "On the Sea Road," and the Climate Story Labs prize to the Libyan film "The Birth of Derna" by Hussein Eddeb.

The Sudanese project "Where Do I Belong?," by Talal Afifi and Ibrahim "Snoopy" Ahmad, received both the Docubox prize and the Sundance Institute's New Voices grant, worth 5,000 dollars each. Burkina Faso was recognized with "My Djomélé Night," by Barkima Nafissatou Laguempedo, and the Democratic Republic of Congo with "The Basement," by Mélanie K. Zawadi, which secured full access to the 2027 market.

"We are thrilled to have hosted such a diverse range of filmmakers," said Magdalene Reddy, director of the Durban FilmMart Institute, as quoted by TimesLIVE.

The list of winners also reveals the sources of funding for African cinema. While the South African NFVF, MultiChoice, MTN Group, the National Lotteries Commission, and the Industrial Development Corporation are among the market's supporters, the majority of cash grants come from donors and broadcasters outside the continent: the Ford Foundation, Al Jazeera, the Red Sea Film Fund, TRT, Sundance, and European festivals. The stories are African; the funding sources, much less so.