Each May, the south of France transforms into a cinematic Mecca, drawing the world’s boldest filmmakers, critics, and storytellers to the Cannes Film Festival. This year, something significant happened in Black cinema, showing our indisputable excellence.
My Father’s Shadow by Nigerian-British director Akinola Davies Jr. marks a historic first Nigeria’s official debut in the main competition. It’s an intimate film set during Nigeria’s 1993 elections, a moment etched in political memory. Davies provides a tender yet unflinching look at state failure, personal inheritance, and generational silence through the eyes of two brothers dealing with the fallout of that now-infamous annulled vote.
More than a victory for Nigeria, it also represents a shift in how African and diasporic narratives are centered on the world’s largest film stage. And My Father’s Shadow is only one component of a wave. This year’s Cannes Festival has five other African films that stand out for their distinctive African perspectives, and they include
1. Promised the Sky—Erige Sehiri (Franco-Tunisian)
Opening Un Certain Regard, Sehiri’s return to Cannes is a quiet storm. The film follows Marie, an Ivorian pastor in Tunis, who shelters two women and a shipwrecked girl amid rising xenophobia toward sub-Saharan migrants. The narrative blends intimate sisterhood with the harsh realities of displacement, painting a portrait of Black womanhood often unseen in Arab-majority spaces.
2. Aisha Can’t Fly Away—Morad Mostafa (Egyptian)
In Cairo’s underrepresented migrant quarters, Mostafa introduces Aisha, a 26-year-old Somali care worker trapped in systemic invisibility. The film is personal, pulling from the director’s background, and timely as Egypt wrestles with questions of race, migration, and belonging. Gritty and humanizing, it’s a story that forces audiences to sit with the realities of everyday survival.
3. Indomptables—Thomas Ngijol (French-Cameroonian)
Ngijol’s debut feature in Cannes is an unexpected genre entry, a noir thriller juxtaposed with social commentary. Shot entirely in Yaoundé, Indomptables follows a Cameroonian police commissioner in a high-stakes murder case. But beneath the slick cinematography lies an exposé on corruption and fractured justice. Ngijol, known for comedy, shows a serious range as both director and lead.
4. L’mina—Randa Maroufi (French-Moroccan)
Short but sharp, L’mina reconstructs the illegal coal mining practices still haunting the Moroccan town of Jerada. Featuring real miners reenacting their lived experiences, the film is both testimony and resistance. It screens as part of Critics’ Week, highlighting Maroufi’s growing reputation for socially engaged storytelling.
5. Life After Siham—Namir Abdel Messeeh (Franco-Egyptian)
Selected by ACID, this tender documentary explores grief, identity, and memory through the loss of the director’s mother. Abdel Messeeh’s use of personal archives blurs the line between personal and political, mapping diaspora, exile, and family rupture across generations.
These five films do more than just add diversity to the Cannes lineup; they also center Black and African voices in complex, intimate, and deeply political ways. They are not linked by geography or genre, but rather by a shared commitment to complex African storytelling. They refuse to reduce identity to trauma porn or exoticism. Instead, they offer community stories. They are global in scope but profoundly personal in tone.
As Black creatives continue to challenge the gatekeepers of international cinema, it is clear that we will no longer wait for permission. We are rewriting the script.
