The African Producers Accelerator, an initiative designed to tackle persistent industry barriers faced by mid-career African film and television producers, has selected the six participants who will take part in its 2026 edition.
The producers, who were chosen from 267 applications submitted across 31 countries, are South Africa’s Babalwa Baartman (“Good Madam”) and David Franciscus (“Street Trash”); Nigeria’s Mimi Bartels (“Adire”) and Abba Makama (“The Lost Okoroshi”); Ghana’s Kofi Owusu-Afriyie (“The Fisherman”); and Sudan’s Khalid Awad (“Goodbye Julia”).
Launched in 2025 by Big World Cinema in collaboration with the Bertha Foundation, the APA looks to craft a response to the industry-specific challenges many African producers face by combining bespoke advisory work, business development support and curated access to investors and international networks.
After three months of intensive preparation as part of its sophomore edition, the participants will pitch their projects to selected film investors: first, at the conclusion of a lab taking place in Cape Town in July, and again at CANEX WKND, a four-day industry event taking place in Lagos in November.
There they’ll be joined by the alumni of the APA’s inaugural edition, who will participate in the investor program alongside the incoming cohort. The alumni include Funmbi Ogunbanwo (“My Father’s Shadow”), Neo Baloyi (“Collision”), Annemarie du Plessis (“Variations on a Theme”), Jorge Cohen (“Meu Semba”), Josh Olaoluwa (“One Woman One Bra”) and Zoe Ramushu (“Real Estate Sisters”).
The selection of this year’s participants was announced Friday at the Cannes Film Festival, where the program’s backers also shared details of two new partnerships that look to shore up support from leading African institutions.
South Africa’s National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), the government film funding agency, has joined as a program partner and will support the lab that takes place in Cape Town, where participants will hone their pitches to prospective investors.
CANEX (Creative Africa Nexus), a program launched by the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) to promote Africa’s creative industries, has also joined as the program’s pan-African institutional partner, and will join the APA in delivering its culminating leg at CANEX WKND in November.
There the participants will deliver formal pitch presentations to selected film investors and financiers, take part in curated one-on-one investment meetings and benefit from direct access to CANEX’s investment pipeline and decision-makers.
“We are thrilled to see African partners joining the Accelerator and are happy to increase the offering for support for African producers,” said APA co-founder Tamsin Ranger.
The 2026 edition of the African Producers Accelerator is managed by Big World Cinema and backed by founding partner the Bertha Foundation. It’s led by Big World’s Tamsin Ranger and Steven Markovitz (“Rafiki,” “Beats of the Antonov”), who together bring more than three decades of experience producing and distributing films across Africa.
They are joined by a team of senior industry advisors, among them Erica Motley Dupuis, a former acquisitions exec at HBO, UIP and Fox and executive producer at Impact X Capital, where she focuses on African-led film, television and animation; and Lina Chaabane, a Tunisian producer at Nomadis Images and member of the FESPACO artistic selection committee, whose credits across nearly three decades include films by Kaouther Ben Hania and Asmae El Moudir.
This year’s cohort features six producers who have already established themselves on world cinema’s biggest stages. Babalwa Baartman is the producer of “Good Madam” (Mlungu Wam), which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and sold to Shudder. Mimi Bartels, a co-founder of Anakle Films, is one of Nigeria’s highest-grossing producers, with credits including “Adire” and “Kambili: The Whole 30 Yards,” both of which were acquired by Netflix. Kofi Owusu-Afriyie’s debut feature, “The Fisherman,” premiered at the Venice Film Festival to acclaim in 2024.
Lagos-based Abba Makama is a multi-hyphenate filmmaker whose work includes TIFF premieres “Green White Green” and “The Lost Okoroshi.” Khalid Awad is a producer and cinematographer whose credits include “Goodbye Julia,” Mohamed Kordofani’s debut feature that won the Freedom Prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 2023. And David Franciscus is a genre producer and festival director bringing African horror and genre cinema to international screens. His film “Street Trash” screened at Rotterdam before being acquired by Screambox.
Owusu-Afriyie and Awad are currently developing new projects supported by the Next Narrative Africa Fund.
The APA is funded by the Bertha Foundation, the National Film and Video Foundation of South Africa (NFVF), and CANEX. The investor engagement program is co-designed and co-delivered in partnership with HEVA Fund and Oxbelly. Program partners include the Durban FilmMart Institute and Central Film School, which in its role as advisory partner supports the program’s pedagogical approach and monitoring and evaluation processes.
“At CANEX, we are committed to unlocking the full potential of Africa’s creative economy by supporting the talent, institutions and platforms that will shape its future,” said Temwa Gondwe, Afreximbank’s director of creatives and diaspora. “Our partnership with the African Producers Accelerator reflects that commitment, and we are proud to help create new pathways for African producers to access investment, strengthen their projects and connect with global industry opportunities.”
“We are proud to be supporting the empowerment of African producers and filmmakers,” said Bertha Foundation founder Tony Tabatznik. “Their voices are vital to challenge the dominant narratives of Africa.’’
“The APA is an important initiative supporting robust producers across the continent,” added NFVF production and development manager Refiloe Hlabioa. “We believe it will help grow the network of African producers who will deliver our future films.’’
Pictured (top, l. to r.): Abba Makama, Babalwa Baartman, David Franciscus; (bottom, l. to r.): Khalid Awad, Kofi Owusu-Afriyie, Mimi Bartels
