Film at Lincoln Center and African Film Festival Inc. will again present the New York African Film Festival, opening with the New York premiere of Erige Sehiri’s “Promised Sky” and featuring more than 100 films at venues across the city in May.
The 33rd edition of the festival will feature more than 14 contemporary and classic feature films and 25 short films at Film at Lincoln Center from May 6 through May 12. Additional screenings and events will take place at cultural sites across New York City throughout the month.
The opening night selection will be “Promised Sky,” a drama centered on an Ivorian pastor living in Tunisia who forms a makeshift family with young women seeking refuge in her home.
The film opened the 2025 Cannes Un Certain Regard program and stars César Award nominee Aïssa Maïga and Laetitia Ky.
The festival begins May 1 at 6:30 p.m. with a Town Hall forum at the Africa Center before shifting to Film at Lincoln Center. It then moves to Maysles Documentary Center in Harlem from May 15 to May 17.
Programming continues at BAM, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, from May 22 to May 28 under the FilmAfrica banner during DanceAfrica. The festival will conclude May 30 with an outdoor screening at St. Nicholas Park.
Guests tied to opening night and other festival events are expected to include Maïga and Ky, along with directors, actors, and creatives from this year’s lineup.
Among those scheduled to appear are Herrana Addisu of “The River,” Shawn Antoine II of “The Sight Unseen,” Sonia Bekam of “Memories of Us,” Ahmad Cissé of “N’DOBINE,” Taylor Dews of “Meet the Family that Sticks Together,” Michael Fadugbagbe of “E BE SO!,” Catherine E. McKinley of “Keïta La,” Chiemeka Offor of “Nwanne M Nwaanyi,” Tyler Woodruff of “The Dream” and Lande Yoosuf of “White Agbada.”
Also expected are actress and filmmaker Zainab Jah, known for “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” and “Only Murders in the Building,” filmmaker Xoliswa Sithole, New School professor Sean Jacobs, South Sudan Ambassador Cecilia Adeng and festival founder Mahen Bonetti, who also serves as executive director of African Film Festival Inc.
The annual event has become a key platform for African and diaspora cinema, connecting New York audiences with filmmakers and stories from across the continent and beyond.
