The seventh edition of Mashariki African Film Festival (MAFF) opened in Kigali on Friday, December 10, at Canal Olympia in Rebero, giving filmmakers a chance to showcase the best their stories again, after the 2020 edition was cancelled due the covid-19 crisis that different countries across the globe were going through.

The annual festival, which runs until December 17, is being held under the theme ‘Tell the Tale’ as an occasion to encourage filmmakers to tell stories that can build a healthy and safe community.

Here is what you need to know about the ongoing festival:

Masterclass workshop

A masterclass workshop was held on Saturday, December 11, at Centre Culturel Francophone, bringing together filmmakers and cinema journalists, sharing experiences in film critique and cinema business.

During the masterclass, film critique expert Mahrez Karoui shared with participants on the importance of film critique, especially how it influences the life of a film, with an objective to help filmmakers learn from the critiques so they can make better contents in future projects.

The masterclass workshop is part of a series of workshops taking place at different venues bringing together filmmakers to share experiences on different matters that tackle the African film industry.

On the agenda, participants are today December 13, gathering at Centre Culturel Francophone to brainstorm on the right cinema for today's digital world.

On Tuesday, participants will gather at the same venue to discuss the France and African Cinema before moving to Onomo Hotel on Wednesday, December 15, to discuss financing cultural projects.

On December 16, a special workshop will be held for local filmmakers on a theme dubbed ‘Kinyarwanda Day’ during which industry players will discuss the role of YouTubers as content creators and potential stakeholders in promoting the industry and the best practices they can use to produce quality film contents for the YouTube community.

Screening

A total of 57 films will be screened during the week-long film festival.

‘Tug of War’ was the first film screened at the festival on Friday, December 10, as part of the opening of the festival held at Canal Olympia.

The movies selected for the screening at the festival are divided in six categories namely long feature, short films, documentary, TV and web series, international and Iziwacu Rwanda (films produced in Rwanda and by Rwandan filmmakers).

Participants can attend ongoing screening sessions lined up at three designated venues namely Centre Culturel Francophone du Rwanda in Kimihurura, Century Cinema at Kigali City Tower and Lavana Cinema.

According to organisers, the majority of the films on the screening lineup are new productions that have never been screened anywhere before, something which they say will give the festival a vote of confidence from renowned established filmmakers to bring their films screened at the festival in future editions.

Attendance

The festival has attracted at least 150 filmmakers from different countries, a number which was far 10 times less compared to the usual attendance from international filmmakers.

Tresor Senga, the brains behind the annual festival, blamed the pandemic as a fear factor behind the filmmakers’ low attendance after the persistent covid-19 Omicron variant prevented a number of participants from attending the festival physically.

He, however, said that the turn up is so far so good given the situation of the pandemic, with over a hundred, dominated by locals, now attending the festival’s screenings and workshops at each of the designated venues.

Best performing filmmakers to be awarded

By the end of the festival, a nine-member jury has been tasked to select outstanding film projects from different categories, who will be awarded as has been the case in previous editions.

The prizes will be given out in different categories namely documentaries, International Panorama, Short Film, long features fiction, TV and Web Series, Iziwacu Film selection as well as France Guest Country selection.

The winners from each category will be rewarded trophies.