Film Forum

African Film Festival, Inc. (AFF) is dedicated to advancing an enhanced understanding of African culture through the moving image. It offers diverse platforms for the wide distribution of African media through its flagship annual film festival and complementary year-round programming. AFF is committed to increasing visibility and recognition for African media artists by introducing African film and culture to a broad range of audiences in the United States and abroad, bypassing economic, class and racial barriers. In 1990, AFF’s founder Mahen Bonetti established goals that continue to enrich the organization mission and organizational development: To use African cinema to promote and increase knowledge and understanding of African arts, literature and culture; To develop an audience for African films; To expand the opportunities for the distribution of African films in the United States and abroad. More info.

Erige Sehiri is a French-Tunisian director, producer, and former journalist whose work bridges documentary realism and narrative cinema. Sehiri began her film career in documentary, directing the acclaimed RAILWAY MEN (2018), which captured the daily struggles of Tunisian railway workers. In 2022, she wrote, directed, and produced her first feature, UNDER THE FIG TREES, an intimate portrait of youth, labor, and fleeting moments of connection set in a rural fig orchard. The film premiered at the 54th Directors’ Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival and was selected to represent Tunisia at the 2023 Academy Awards®. It has since screened at major international festivals and been released theatrically in over twenty countries. Beyond her work in film, Sehiri is an active advocate for freedom of expression and media literacy. She is the co-founder of the media INKYFADA and the Tunisian NGO Al KHATT. She is also a founding member of the Rawiyat–Sisters in Film collective, which supports women filmmakers across the Arab world and diaspora. PROMISED SKY, her second feature film, premiered at Cannes Film Festival Official Selection Un Certain Regard.

Laetitia Ky is a Ivorian artist, actress, and activist, who was born in Abidjan in 1996. She rose to fame through her hair sculptures: she uses her hair as a material for art and activism, and as a way to promote self-esteem, gender equality, and black beauty. Her work, which includes visual arts, performances and social activism, quickly gained international recognition. She made her film debut in Philippe Lacôte’s NIGHT OF THE KINGS, and went on playing the character of Manuella/Udoka in Giacomo Abbruzzese’s DISCO BOY. The film was showcased at the Berlin Film Festival. In 2022, Laetitia Ky published her autobiography and artbook Love and Justice, in which she discusses her unique perspective on the human body and on social activism.

Lovia Gyarkye is an editor at Hammer & Hope magazine and was previously a critic for The Hollywood Reporter. Her work has appeared in The Nation, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Dissent, and Aperture.





Taylor Dews hails for Hampton Roads, Virginia. She is a Doctoral Candidate in Cultural Anthropology at New York University, where she also earned an Advanced Certificate in Culture and Media, a documentary film program in collaboration with the Tisch School of the Arts. There she produced Meet the Family That Sticks Together, a family documentary and archival collage on Black self-determination, generational memory, grief, and sticking together. Her research examines Black feminist curatorial practice and the transnational film festival networks that connect African and Diasporic cinema across cities such as Accra, London, and New York—where she does work with the Black Star International Film Festival, June Givanni Pan-African Cinema Archive, and African Film Festival INC. Taylor is a proud alumna of Spelman College and member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, INC.

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