The Africa Film Finance Forum (AFFF) has unveiled plans to unlock a $20 billion Pan-African film economy, a bold move aimed at transforming the continent’s underfunded and informal film sector into a structured, high-value industry.
The announcement, made in a statement signed by AFFF Convener Mary Ephraim-Egbas on Wednesday in Lagos, shows the forum’s intent to industrialize Africa’s storytelling traditions and turn creative output into capital growth.
“Storytelling began in Africa, our stories have shaped cultures, inspired movements, and connected communities. But for Africa to compete globally, it must move beyond telling stories to monetizing them.” Ephraim-Egbas said.
Despite being one of the world’s most culturally rich and creatively dynamic regions, Africa’s film industry continues to grapple with fragmentation, informality, and uneven access to financing, infrastructure, and global distribution networks.
Nigeria, which boasts one of the most prolific film industries in the world, embodies both the vast potential and the persistent challenges facing the sector across the continent.
Nollywood, as it is popularly known, generates an estimated $6.4 billion annually, supports hundreds of thousands of jobs, and drives a significant portion of West Africa’s box office revenue. However, it also suffers staggering losses of around $2 billion each year to piracy.
This paradox is mirrored across Africa. While the continent’s film sector is rich in talent and storytelling power, it remains hindered by informality, underinvestment, and weak institutional frameworks.
Even as local demand for African content surges and global platforms show increasing interest, the industry struggles to scale due to limited access to capital, fragmented value chains, and inadequate policy support.
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AFFF 2025, scheduled for September 16–18 in Lagos, aims to address these structural challenges.
The upcoming forum will gather a wide spectrum of industry players, including filmmakers, investors, policy leaders, distributors, and digital innovators, to design systems that can turn Africa’s creative storytelling into a formalized economic engine.
Bolaji Abimbola, co-chair of AFFF’s Public Relations and Strategic Communications Committee, emphasized that unlocking the film industry’s economic potential begins with reframing it as strategic infrastructure.
Fellow co-chair Clarina De Freitas added that while African stories are a unique global asset, they must be paired with serious investment, credible institutions, and scalable distribution.
“From informal street markets to cinemas and mobile streaming platforms, the goal is to build a Pan-African film ecosystem not one shaped by extractive external interests, but by Africans who understand the cultural and economic value of their narratives,” De Freitas said.
The 2025 edition of AFFF is themed “Pan-African Film Economy: Building a $20 Billion Industry for 1.4 Billion People” and reflects a growing shift across the continent toward creative industries as vehicles for inclusive economic growth.
