Official poster of FIFDA Paris 2026
Opening film of FIFDA Paris 2026: The Foolishness of God: A Forgiveness Journey with Desmond Tutu.
The Dutchman, by Andre Gaines, presented at FIFDA Paris 2026.
Goundafa, the cursed song, by Ali Benjelloun, presented at FIFDA Paris 2026.
Mixed-race women — Five women against a state crime, a film about five mixed-race women torn from their families during Belgian colonization.
15 films, 13 countries and territories, premieres and guest filmmakers: FIFDA 2026 explores memory, justice, transmission and reparation.
This year's theme: "Memory: spiritual, political, social, colonial, intimate, musical… These fictional and documentary works refuse to forget and seek forms of reparation."
— Olivier Barlet, Africultures
PARIS, ÎLE-DE-FRANCE, FRANCE, August 25, 2026 / EINPresswire.com / -- From September 4 to 6, 2026, the 16th International Festival of African Diaspora Films (FIFDA) returns to Paris at the CGR Paris Lilas Cinema and the Saint-André
des Arts Cinema. This new edition will bring together 15 films from 13 countries and territories, including 4 European premieres, 6 French premieres, and 3 Parisian premieres, accompanied by numerous discussions with the guest filmmakers.Through stories from Africa, the Caribbean, Europe, and North America, the festival explores how contemporary societies confront the wounds of the past—colonialism, migration, racism, exclusion, political violence, and cultural transmission—to imagine new forms of justice, reparation, and living together.
Film critic Olivier Barlet writes in Africultures:
“As every year, the Parisian film season kicks off at FIFDA… The program is necessarily eclectic, but if one were to find a common thread, this year it would be memory: spiritual, political, social, colonial, personal, musical… These fiction and documentary films refuse to forget and seek forms of reparation, resistance, or reconstruction.”
A PROGRAM THAT QUESTIONS OUR TIMES
The opening film, The Foolishness of God: A Forgiveness Journey with Desmond Tutu , offers an intimate portrait of Archbishop Desmond Tutu and poses an essential question: how to rebuild a society after the violence of history? Presented in collaboration with FIFDA’s long-standing partner, the Observatory of Cultural Diversity, the documentary will be screened in the presence of its director, Karen Hayes, followed by a discussion with the audience.
Closing the festival, Music Pictures: New Orleans, with director Ben Chace in attendance, celebrates the African American musical heritage through iconic figures such as Irma Thomas, Little Freddie King, Ellis Marsalis, and the Tremé Brass Band.
The Shadow of Greed, a political thriller by Nigerian director Akay Mason, delves into the complex interplay between foreign investment, political power, corruption, and promises of development in Nigeria.
In the United States, The Dutchman , a contemporary adaptation of Amiri Baraka's seminal play, transposes a confrontation between race, class, desire, and power to present-day America, highlighting how certain historical fractures continue to permeate American society.
The program also features several acclaimed and award-winning films from international festivals.
• Nail's Man, winner of the Idrissa Ouedraogo Revelation Prize at FESPACO 2025, explores questions of masculinity and dignity in contemporary Kinshasa with humor and sensitivity.
• Winner of the "Key of Return" Award at the Cairo International Film Festival, Goundafa, the Cursed Song explores Amazigh cultural resistance to the rise of religious fundamentalism in the High Atlas Mountains of Morocco. Its director, Ali Benjelloun, will participate in a Q&A session with the audience.
• Winner of the Best Feature Film Award at the Roxbury International Film Festival, The Wall Street Boy, Kipkemboi follows a young math prodigy in a Kenyan village who develops an algorithm capable of disrupting global financial markets. His success soon attracts the attention of powerful international interests and puts his life in danger.
MEMORIES, JUSTICE, AND TRANSMISSION:
Documentaries, fiction films, and experimental works comprise a program where memory becomes a space of resistance.
• Mixed-Race Women – Five Women Against a State Crime recounts the struggle of five mixed-race women torn from their families during Belgian colonization.
• Mora est Là (Mora is Here), presented by its director Khalid Zairi, unearths the long-hidden history of the thousands of Moroccan workers recruited for French mines.
• La Mémoire du Manguier (The Memory of the Mango Tree), by Senegalese director Nicolas Sawalo Cissé, celebrates the solidarity of a working-class neighborhood in Dakar confronted with the disappearance of its living memory.
• The festival will also dedicate a program of four short films from the Caribbean to the memory, transmission, and persistence of African cultures in the region. From Curaçao to Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago, Quarantine, Catch a Fire, Tambu, and Bongo explore the legacy of slavery and colonialism, the struggles for freedom, as well as the music, dance, and traditions passed down from generation to generation. The screening will be followed by a discussion with Trinidadian director Kenderson Noray.
• The documentary *Tricoté Serré Crêpu*, presented in collaboration with Maison d'Haïti, extends this reflection on the diaspora by retracing the first wave of Haitian immigration to Quebec in the 1960s and the crucial contribution of this community to Quebec society.
A FESTIVAL OF ENCOUNTERS
Faithful to its mission since its creation in Paris in 2009, FIFDA is a space for dialogue where cinema becomes a tool for reflection, exchange, and discovery.
Several directors will be present throughout the festival to meet the public, including Karen Hayes, Ben Chace, Khalid Zairi, Kenderson Noray, Nicolas Sawalo Cissé, and Ali Benjelloun.
The festival will conclude on September 6 with Music Pictures: New Orleans, followed by a discussion and closing cocktail reception at Café Latin.
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PRACTICAL INFORMATION
• 16th International African Diaspora Film Festival (FIFDA)
• Dates: September 4-6, 2026
• Venues:
o CGR Paris Lilas Cinema – Place du Maquis du Vercors, 75020 Paris
o Saint-André des Arts Cinema – 30, rue Saint-André des Arts, 75006 Paris
• Full program: www.FIFDA.org
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