| African Federation of Film Critics | |
| Abbreviation: | AFFC |
| Headquarters: | Dakar, Senegal |
African Federation of Film Critics (AFFC, French: Fédération africaine de la critique cinématographique, FACC) is a panafricanist federation of film critics associations from Africa and the diaspora, as well as individuals. It was founded in 2004[1] and as of 2023, is composed of 43 associations and 456 editors. Its headquarters are in Senegal.
From 17 to 21 February 2003, a working group of 26 film critics from Senegal, Madagascar, Nigeria, and Burkina Faso convened in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. The group was led by Clément Tapsoba, Jean Roy and Olivier Barlet, and coordinated by FESPACO executive director Gervais Hien, with the support of the French government. An outcome of the gathering was the creation of an online user group, Africiné, composed of cultural journalists, to network and create content. [2]
In July 2003, a similar four-day working group was organised in Tunis by the Tunisian Association for the Promotion of Film Criticism (ATPCC).In June 2004, the Fonds des inforoutes de l’Agence intergouvernementale de la Francophonie (AIF) provided a grant to create the africine.org website, produce content for it, and organise workshops. The management the grant was overseen by the Africultures association from November 2004 through the end of 2007[3] at which point 4221 films were listed on the website and 867 articles published. In early 2023 there were 2560.
On 9 September 2004, a meeting of the film critics present at the International Women's Film Festival in Salé, Morocco, defined the objectives of the Africiné network:[4]
From 2 to 7 October 2004, the delegates of the Africiné network in attendance at the Carthage Film Festival decided to create a federation whose statutes and internal regulations were adopted. Its charter was to "establish a new approach in film criticism and to affirm one that is African, not because it is the only authentic and legitimate one, but because it is generally without visibility and unable to shape global perception of African cinema and African cultures". It ends with a quote from Paulin Soumanou Vieyra: "To accept criticism is to accept to be different and to think that one does not hold the absolute truth".
An executive board was elected :
The headquarters are in Dakar and Thierno Ibrahima Dia was appointed administrator of the Africiné website and moderator of the internet discussion group.[5]
A first congress was organised at Fespaco in 2009, which elected a new board, composed of seven members:
In 2010, the AFFC is entrusted by the World Festival of Black Arts with the programming of screening-debates and the organisation of the Sembène/Chahine coloquium.The same year, the headquarters agreement was signed on 30 March in Dakar by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Me Madické Niang.[6] A meeting was held with 17 AFFC members at the 2011 Fespaco and 35 members at the 2013 Fespaco to consider improvements to the general functioning of the Federation and its governance. After consultation with all member associations, the statutes, rules and regulation were revised to reflect the growth of the Federation.On 17 and 18 December 2015, the AFFC organised a second ordinary congress in Marrakech with some thirty participants representing fifteen member countries to amend and adopt the new statutes and internal regulations, renew the governing bodies and outline the action plan. The Moroccan critic Khalil Demmoun was elected president and the executive board was renewed as follows:
The congress also adopted a three-year action plan for the AFFC for the period 2016–2018, with the objective of animating the life of the federation and the implementation of its mission to support African cinema.In 2020, the AFFC mourns the death of its first president, Clément Tapsoba.[8] During the 26th edition of Fespaco, the Ordinary General Assembly of 28 February 2019 elects a new executive board with a majority of women.
The General Assembly also elected two auditors: Renate Lemba (DRC) and Rodéric Dèdègnonhou (Benin).
| Clément Tapsoba | Burkina Faso | 2004-2009 | |
| Baba Diop | Senegal | 2009-2015 | |
| Khalil Demmoun | Morocco | 2015-2019 | |
| Fatou Kiné Sène | Senegal | 2019-2023 | |
| Fatoumata Sagnane | Guinea | depuis 2023 |
At the General Assembly on 2 March 2023 during Fespaco in Ouagadougou, a new executive board was elected, composed of :
Various training groups are organised during film festivals or on local initiatives to reinforce the structure of the Federation, particularly through the creation of national associations of film critics:
Since October 2004, the AFFC, in collaboration with Africultures, has been developing a comprehensive database of films from and about Africa, African cinema personalities, professional organizations and industry news. It is integrated into the multidisciplinary Southplanet database Southplanet, which serves as the basis for the Africine and Africultures websites. At the beginning of 2023, the database listed nearly 22,000 films.
For every edition of FESPACO since 2005, AFFC produces the Africine Bulletin, an 8-page film critics report that it distributes for free to festivalgoers.
In 1988, at the Third Conference of African Cinema in Khouribga, a jury of critics created the "Paulin Vieyra Award",[9] which was awarded at FESPACO only once, in 2000.
Since 2009 the African Critics Award—renamed the Paulin Soumanou Vieyra Award in 2013 in honor of the first black African film critic— has been awarded by a jury of African critics organised by the AFFC in partnership with various African festivals. The award aims to encourage high quality cinema and support young emerging talents.
| 2009 | Teza[10] | Haile Gerima | Ethiopia | FESPACO | |
| 2013 | One Man's Show[11] | Newton Aduaka | Nigeria | FESPACO | |
| 2014 | Les Hommes d’argile[12] | Mourad Boucif | Marocco | Festival International du film transsaharien de Zagora | |
| 2015 | Starve Your Dog[13] | Hicham Lasri | Marocco | FESPACO | |
| 2016 | Starve Your Dog | Hicham Lasri | Marocco | Luxor African Film Festival | |
| 2016 | Eshtebak (Clash)[14] | Mohamed Diab | Egypt | Carthage Film Festival[15] | |
| 2016 | Les hommes d’argile | Mourad Boucif | Egypt | Festival international du film transsaharien de Zagora | |
| 2017 | Serpent | Amanda Evans | South Africa | Durban International Film Festival | |
| 2017 | Tant qu'on vit (Medan vi lever) | Dani Kouyaté | Burkina Faso | Festival international du film transsaharien de Zagora | |
| 2017 | A Mile in My Shoes (film) | Marocco | FESPACO | ||
| 2017 | The Train of Salt and Sugar[16] | Licínio Azevedo | Mozambique | Carthage Film Festival | |
| 2018 | Sofia[17] | Meryem Benm'Barek | Meryem Benm’Barek | Marocco | Carthage Film Festival |
| 2018 | Mama Bobo | Robin Andelfinger et Ibrahima Seydi | France, Senegal | Rencontres du film court Madagascar | |
| 2019 | Indigo[18] | Selma Bargach | Marocco | FESPACO | |
| 2019 | You come from far away | Amal Ramsis | Egypt | Ismailia International Film Festival | |
| 2019 | Un coin du ciel noir | Niger | Toukountchi Festival de Cinéma du Niger | ||
| 2020 | Awa (Here) | Deborah Basa | Republic of Congo | Rencontres du film court Madagascar | |
| 2021 | The Gravedigger's Wife[19] | Khadar Ayderus Ahmed | Somalia | FESPACO | |
| 2021 | Argu | Omar Belkacemi | Algeria | Carthage Film Festival | |
| 2021 | Tuk Tuk | Mohamed Kheidr | Egypt | Rencontres du film court Madagascar | |
| 2022 | La Vie d’après[20] | Anis Djaad | Tunisie | Carthage Film Festival | |
| 2023 | Mami Wata[21] | C. J. Obasi | FESPACO |