A lot is happening right now in the film and creative industry at large, specifically what Tambay Obenson of Akoroko (an AFP partner) describes as an “Africa interest.” In a private conversation, he noted this curiosity will only increase in the coming years.
Amongst the various Africa-leaning events across the globe, the inaugural Africa Xchange Summit took place in mid October in Cologne, during the city’s film festival, bringing together cultural stakeholders from across Africa and Europe.
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The summit opened on October 15 with a screening of Akinola Davies Jr’s My Father’s Shadow, which from my observation was a full house, a day after it was announced to represent the UK at the Oscars. The following day, October 16, featured back-to-back panels on film, finance, gaming and tech.
Moderated by Nadia Denton of Beyond Nollywood and Scott Roxborough of The Hollywood Reporter, the speakers included Pam Mutembei (HEVA Fund, Kenya), Joel Chikapa-Phiri (Known Associates, South Africa), Jude Abaga (M.I) of TASCK Creative Company (Nigeria), Jorge Cohen (Cine Zunga, Angola), Dean Gichukie (Kunta Content, Kenya), Olympe Challot (Spielfabrique, Belgium/Germany), George Odongo Ahere (Weza Interactive Entertainment, Kenya/Germany), Sata Cissokho (Berlinale’s World Cinema Fund), Michael Baruti (Ubongo, Tanzania), filmmaker Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese, and Slim Mrad (Pathé Touch Afrique).
The summit opened with a keynote from Philipp Hoffmann, founder of Rushlake Media (who recently handled international sales for Nigeria’s The Legend of the Vagabond Queen of Lagos). He called the gathering a “humble beginning” but also a landmark because it served as the first time Cologne’s largest film festival spotlighted African creative industries. For many in Germany, he admitted, the scale and opportunity of Africa’s cultural economy is still “largely unknown”.
This wasn’t just a novelty for Cologne but a rare gathering anywhere, combining film, games, tech and finance under one programming. Hoffmann reflected on starting with African films in 2012, when colleagues asked why he wouldn’t focus on “proper European product”. The scepticism has since shifted to gradual recognition. Today, Africa is seen as “the last big growth market”, with a median age under 19 and rapidly expanding economies.
As the panels began, familiar complaints surfaced quickly, such as hard-to-access announced funds (for example, repeated Nigerian funding announcements haven’t yielded clear-to-see results), the threat of Canal+ dominance, and a lack of enabling policies from African governments. “If all the alternative voices are dead, then it’s only one voice,” warned Joel Chikapa-Phiri, a South African veteran who has produced across various screen formats, stressing the need to protect national broadcasters. The fear was clear, as far as I could tell and understand as a Nigerian, that without long term structural support, diverse voices risk being swallowed whole.
What particularly made the panels in Cologne different was the intimacy of the room. A smaller audience, perhaps partly due to the scandal around the Cologne Film Festival itself, let speakers drop their guard. The tone of the speakers was sharper.
Some interventions offered tangible paths. Berlinale’s Sata Cissokho spoke of Toolbox for under-represented producers and an African–European Distribution Academy for young distributors. Demand, she noted, has grown, where once catalogues carried one African title, now five can make it through. But she warned against flattening stories for the sake of “universality”. What travels, she argued, are films with strong worlds and bold form.
Finance discussions made plain how policy shapes everything. South Africa’s treaties and incentives have given producers a financing grammar. East Africa, as HEVA noted, is still patching together grants, brand money and venture debt while pushing a creative-economy bill through the Senate. The appeal to the European stakeholders was blunt: “We’re not a charity. Bring advice and partnership.”
The irony of staging such conversations across the world wasn’t lost. For example, Europe’s cultural sectors are supported by reasonable public funding. Africa’s are left to private investors and aid. Awareness across the world and in Cologne is useful, but it hit me that it cannot replace government responsibility (while avoiding over interference) at home.
Still, some models exist and success stories were shared. Ubongo’s Michael Baruti showed how impact-driven distribution can work: free-to-air TV, radio, roadshows and lightweight apps across 19 countries, reaching millions of children with co-created content. At the other end, Pathé Touch Afrique’s Slim Mrad highlighted a 20-country theatrical network with five million admissions, dominated by dubbed Hollywood blockbusters. His fix is to co-produce African genre films that bring audiences back into cinemas, even if language, ticket prices and limited screens remain hurdles.
Distribution is always at the scene of these panels. Cinemas are scarce, data is costly, and the old release windows are gone. Workarounds included first-window deals with public broadcasters, revenue-share models with streamers, or direct-to-consumer releases on YouTube and local platforms to avoid 25-year lock-ups. Roadshows and ultra-cheap VOD, though unglamorous, were floated as practical tools to build viewing habits.
But at a certain point the déjà vu was hard to ignore. It is crazy how we are all saying the same things, which many African filmmakers are already tired of. Just that we are hearing them at different events and occasionally in a slightly different cooler phrase or anecdote.
At the end, focus returned to Africa’s built-in advantage in community. Collaboration—trading services, pooling crews, co-producing across borders—was seen as the near-term engine while governments catch up. Community buys time; politics unlocks money.
Ownership was reframed with similar pragmatism. IP follows the money: finance it yourself if you want to keep it, or sell deliberately as an exit. The advice was not “never sell”, but “decide your exit on purpose and demand clear reporting”.
Also, patience emerged as a strategy. “Grass doesn’t grow faster if you pull it,” Hoffmann noted in a direct German to English idiom translation, warning against quarterly illusions. South Africa’s incentives, France’s levy system and even micro taxes on data were cited as blueprints. What is missing is not imagination but political will and organised lobbying.
The day ended with a challenge: seed an Africa Exchange Fund out of Cologne. Africa and Germany would each bring half—perhaps $2 million to start—and make films across hubs to premiere in Cologne annually. A suggestion at something concrete to measure by the next edition, as it was noted that measurable follow-up hardly occurs at the many panels that take place all over.
The backdrop, however, was Cologne’s own dysfunction. Last year, staff accused the festival director of bullying and mismanagement, prompting boycotts. In Europe, institutions are expected to answer for abuse of power. In Africa, the problem is often the absence of well-oiled institutions willing to act at all.
In the end, the summit reminded me of the hard truth that Africa’s creative industries cannot outgrow the societies around them. Nollywood, for all its ingenuity, still reflects Nigeria’s institutional weaknesses. Outliers break through, but a consistent “next level” requires cultural policy, infrastructure and government commitment.
Until that arrives, summits like Africa Xchange will remain both necessary and frustrating as spaces where African creatives sharpen their case, but also reminders of how little changes without political will at home.
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