New Nomadic Film Space Platform for African Cinema Financing to Launch at Cannes

A new traveling market platform designed to connect African creative producers with fresh sources of financing will launch with a series of events May 14-15 at the Cannes Marché du Film. The Nomadic Film Space is curated and operated by Yetu (Un)limited.

The organization is partnering with Ctrl + Alt + Shift, Sanusi Development Studio and Kiasi on the initiative, which is backed by Afreximbank, Film Fund Luxembourg, SACD (France, Belgium and Canada), Institut Français, SODEC, Téléfilm Canada, Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles & Wallonie-Bruxelles-International, CNC, the Cannes Marché du Film Producers’ Network, IEFTF and Ambassade de France en Guinée.

Yanis Gaye, founder of Yetu (Un)limited, said the platform addresses a gap in the international film industry. “African, Afro-diasporic and Global South film industries are an archipelago filled with cultural resonance,” Gaye stated. ” The platform opens May 14 with a workshop titled “Producing the Future: Innovative Financing Models for African Cinemas” presented as part of the Marché du Film’s Producers Network.

Kiasi’s Samuel Tebandeke will moderate the session, which begins with Women in Film’s content analysis framework and ecosystem mapping in Nigeria and Kenya. A panel featuring leaders from Docubox, Afreximbank and the Great Lakes Creative Producers Lab follows.

Also on May 14, organizers will present a case study on Afreximbank’s Canex Creations investment strategy in the film and audiovisual sector, covering project selection, financing structures and cross-territory partnership models.

A networking cocktail for financiers, producers and industry partners is scheduled after the case study. The events seek to equip international producers with practical strategies for meaningful collaboration across the continent while moving beyond conventional market encounters. ” The think tank was initiated by Yetu (Un)limited in 2025.

Its pilot edition was held in Salvador, Brazil, in partnership with the Mostra de Cinemas Africanos. The Cannes session of the think tank is presented with the support of IEFTF. It will showcase findings from the Brazil pilot, which generated case studies, qualitative audience design frameworks and the first edition of an ongoing publication.

The session will also set the strategic framework for a dedicated support platform to grow revenue-generating audiences for African cinema globally. Variety reported that the Nomadic Film Space combines market research with the co-creation of audience design methodologies for African cinema.