Mashariki African Film Festival

The Mashariki African Film Festival stands as Rwanda's biggest cinematic event, responding to the growing film audience and the essential need for connections across African countries, filmmakers, the African diaspora, and international media producers.

This year marks a significant milestone as the Mashariki African Film Festival joyously celebrates its 10th anniversary. The landmark 10th edition of the festival is scheduled to take place from November 2nd to 8th, 2024. The 2024 program promises world premieres, screenings, workshops, seminars, panel discussions, and the exciting second edition of MashaRket—a platform facilitating meetings, professional discussions, and distribution deals among distributors, sales agents, production companies, producers, filmmakers, televisions, distribution platforms, and other film professionals.

The Mashariki African Film Festival (MAAFF) invites applications from filmmakers across Africa, the African diaspora, and worldwide, categorized under different competition segments.

The categories include Best Long Feature Fiction, Best Feature Documentary, Best Short Film, Best TV and Web Series, and Best East African Short Film.

Iziwacu Films will present awards for the Best Rwandan Short Film, while the Best International Film will be awarded to a film on Africa and African issues produced by non-African countries and international filmmakers.

Independent awards are also included, such as the East African Talent Award and the SIGNIS Award, with more awards to be announced.

The Official Mashariki Film Festival Awards, though not exhaustively listed, will recognize outstanding achievements in various categories with trophies, prize money, and additional perks such as mobility funds and residencies for filmmakers.