Film festivals showcase diverse international cinema

Various film festivals are active across the globe, highlighting independent and international cinema. In Nigeria, the Lights, Camera, Africa! Film Festival is returning to Lagos at the MUSON Centre. The 2026 edition, themed ‘Convivium: In Gathering’, features titles such as Akinola Davies Jr.’s ‘Lizard’, Ifeyinwa Arinze’s ‘Breast Milk’, and Praise Odigie’s ‘Birdie’. These festivals serve as platforms for community building, networking, and showcasing films that have traveled international circuits or are making their first public screenings.

In North America, recent festival activity included Venice, Telluride, Toronto, and the Camden International Film Festival in Maine. Notable documentary discussions include filmmaker Barbara Kopple’s ‘Union Town’, which explores working-class American stories, and James Marcus Haney’s ‘Black Sunflowers’, which follows young Ukrainian women impacted by the war. Additionally, the documentary ‘Edward Said: Between Worlds’ premiered in Toronto, examining the life of the Palestinian scholar and activist who advocated for a secular democratic model for Israelis and Palestinians.