Durban FilmMart Opens With Caméra d'Or Winner as 35 Projects Pitch

The 17th Durban FilmMart opens Oct. 9 with a screening of "Ben'Imana," the Rwandan post-genocide drama that won the Caméra d'Or at this year's Cannes Film Festival — the first time the market has ever hosted an opening screening of its own.

The debut feature by Marie-Clémentine Dusabejambo is an alumnus of the DFM Pitch and Finance Forum itself. "This was a DFM project. It was pitched at DFM two years ago, and they were able to win two awards at Cannes [including the FIPRESCI prize]," Durban FilmMart Institute director Magdalene Reddy said. "For us, the celebration of hosting a screening at the market — which we've not done previously — is based on the fact that we want to show our local content in our local context."

The four-day program of talks, panels and think tanks runs through Oct. 12 and sets the agenda for African film and TV industries for the year ahead.

What does the forum's track record look like?

Since its launch 16 years ago, the co-production forum, alongside the Talents Durban and Jumpstart platforms, has catalyzed more than 100 films. Recent alumni include:

• "Aisha Can't Fly Away Anymore" by Egyptian filmmaker Morad Mustafa, premiered at Cannes' Critics' Week
• "Goodbye Julia" by Sudanese director Mohamed Kordofani, premiered in Un Certain Regard
• "Mami Wata," Sundance prizewinner by Nigeria's C.J. Obasi
• "Carissa" by South African duo Devon Delmar and Jason Jacobs, premiered in Venice's Horizons strand

Who is pitching this year?

The 2025 forum features 35 projects — eight animation titles, 10 fiction features, 10 documentaries and seven series — at varying stages of development. Fourteen African nations are represented. Twenty-eight of the 35 projects have women in key creative roles.

"Creating the right balance is important," Reddy said. "For us, creating a balance means creating a balance between the regions of the continent, so that we are well-represented. Creating a balance between established and emerging filmmakers. Gender balance is also very important." She added: "The other balance is to make sure that there's arthouse and commercial projects."

This year also brings a showcase of five projects from the African Producers Accelerator, launched this year to connect commercially viable African projects with investors. Highlights include "Borsel" by Jacobs and Delmar, whose "Variations on a Theme" won at Rotterdam in 2025; "Galatians" by director Michael Omonua and producer Abba Makama of Nigeria's Surreal16 Collective; "A Fantastic Tale" by Kenya's Vincho Nchogu; and "The Return," a Ghana-U.S. co-production from Zoey Martinson. Partnerships with the Palestine Film Institute, Climate Story Labs and Habesha Creative will support additional projects seeking partners.

Ten projects to watch

"Juju Soccer" — C.J. Obasi. The "Mami Wata" director pivots to animation with a series about a downtrodden youth soccer team transformed by a sorcerer's apprentice. "There is literally no show like 'Juju Soccer,'" Obasi said. "It's an ultra-cool, colorful, badass African animated series, and we are going to have a blast making it."

"Where Do I Belong?" — Ibrahim "Snoopy" Ahmad. From the team behind the Sundance-premiering documentary "Khartoum," a companion piece shot in Nairobi's Sudanese diaspora community, combining documentary footage and hand-drawn pencil animation. "This film begins inside Ibrahim's own family: the parents who crossed borders to protect him are now separated from him by Sudan's war," producers Talal Afifi and Ahmad said.

"Four Months and Ten Days" — Alyaa Musa. The Sudanese filmmaker's feature debut follows a widow who refuses to mourn her late husband, trapping his restless ghost at home. "The story merges two realities: a nation seeking freedom after 30 years of oppression, and Azza seeking reconciliation after 30 years of an unhappy marriage," Musa said. It comes from producers of "The Dam" and "Goodbye Julia."

"Mieta" — Carla Fonseca Mokgata. Set in 1980s South Africa and told through the eyes of a 10-year-old orphaned farm laborer. "It is for every child who imagined freedom before they knew its name," Mokgata said.

"Bitter Wine" — Pablo Pinedo Bóveda. The Basque filmmaker of "Noma" pairs with South African producer David Franciscus on a drama about a Spanish trade unionist who finds exploitation on a friends' vineyard. The filmmakers call it "the story of neo-slavery experienced by South African wine farm workers."

"Fafi" — Dominique Jossie. A multi-generational crime mystery series spanning four decades between Cape Town and Johannesburg, rooted in the illegal gambling world of Fafi. "It was inspired by stories shared by my grandfather, who worked as a Fafi runner in the 1950s," Jossie said.

"Hyena" — Mkamzee Mwatela. The Nairobi-based writer-director, credited on Netflix's "Country Queen" and MTV's "Shuga Mashariki," pitches an 8 x 45' series about a producer whose second chance comes through a trashy reality show. "There is no neutral gaze in ['Hyena']," Mwatela said.

"Nerve" — Renee van Reenen, Raffaella Delle Donne, Tshepo Moche. The trio behind credits including "Supa Team 4" and "Kizazi Moto" present an Afrofuturist anthology of ten 8-10' horror episodes centered on African women who "triumph, overcome and subvert."

"Smoke and Mirrors" — Zoë Laband, Jozua Malherbe, Luke Rous. A 6 x 50' crime drama about an empty grave in Brazil and one of history's largest cryptocurrency Ponzi schemes. "When you lose as much money as [AI-powered Bitcoin trading platform] MTI stole, you almost have to admire the audacity," the filmmakers said.

"Sunday Morning" — Minasie Terefe. The Ethiopian preschool series won both the Disney Television Animation Prize and the AGrAF Prize at Annecy's MIFA Pitches this year. "We believe the most local stories often travel the furthest," Terefe said.

With 35 projects, an expanded accelerator and a Cannes-winning opener, this year's DFM doubles down on its claim as the continent's primary launchpad — and a proving ground for whether Africa's festival breakthroughs can convert into financing.