Ghanaian filmmaker Amartei Armar‘s feature film Ego Reach We All (Our Time Will Come) has been selected for the Concorso Cineasti del Presente competition at the 79th Locarno Film Festival, where it will make its world premiere.
The Ghana-France co-production is one of the titles competing in the section dedicated to emerging filmmakers. Concorso Cineasti del Presente, one of the festival’s 11 official sections, showcases first and second features from filmmakers whose work points towards new directions in cinema. All selected films screen as international or world premieres.
The section’s jury will award the Pardo d’Oro Concorso Cineasti del Presente, which carries a CHF35,000 prize shared equally between the director and producer, alongside the Best Emerging Director Award (CHF20,000), the Special Jury Prize CINÉ+, which includes a promotional campaign for the film’s French theatrical release, and two Pardo for Best Performance awards. The jury may also present up to two special mentions.
Written and directed by Armar, Ego Reach We All runs 105 minutes and is performed in Twi, Ga and Pidgin. The cast includes Idrissu Tontie Jr., Dorothy Adobea Tandoh, Emmanuel Wilberforce, Barbara Yong-Jin, Emmanuel Owusu Ofori, O’Bryan Nana Kwame Enyan and Gabriel Narh Addo.
The film is produced by Yemoh Ike for AKA Entertainment, with Sébastien Hussenot of La Luna Productions serving as co-producer. Armar is also credited as executive producer. John Kwame Markin serves as cinematographer, Marie-Pierre Frappier edited the film, while the score is composed by Amine Bouhafa and Kweku Sackey (K.O.G.). The project received support from the Red Sea Fund, Fonds Image de la Francophonie and Ane Ventures, with CANAL+ International attached as a co-production partner.
Although Armar has another feature project, Vagabonds, in production, Ego Reach We All will be the first of his features to premiere publicly. He previously gained international recognition with Tsutsue, which became the first short film from Ghana to compete in the Cannes Film Festival’s Official Short Film Competition.
The selection also adds to Africa’s presence across this year’s official Locarno programme, with films from Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Senegal, Tunisia and Kenya also announced in the festival’s official selections. Additional African projects are represented in the festival’s Open Doors screenings programme, announced separately.
The 79th Locarno Film Festival is set to take place from August 5 to 15, 2026.
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