The Biggest Names In African Cinema Were Honored At THIS Silicon Valley Film Festival You Should Know About

Did you know Silicon Valley is home to one of the best festivals for filmmakers from Africa and the diaspora?

Source: Janeé Bolden / Courtesy

Our Sr. Content Director Janeé Bolden attended the 15th Annual SVAFF in San Jose earlier this month and gained insight from founder Chike Nwoffiah and a number of the filmmakers in attendance, including Dr. John Kani, Julie Dash, Souleymane Cissé, and Richard Mofe-Damijo who were all honored as 2024 Cultural Icons during the four-day event.

The SVAFF experience kicked off on Industry Day, two days before the festival’s official opening ceremony, with a visit to YouTube’s office in San Bruno, CA. We were hosted by two employees (members of Black@YouTube) who gave us a tour of the campus, answered questions and provided lunch. This visit was particularly special because we were joined by Souleymane Cissé (often referred to as “the greatest living African filmmaker”). Hailing from Mali, Cissé’s film Yeelen became the first African film to win the Jury Prize at the 1987 Cannes Film Festival. Cissé was also awarded the Carrosse d’Or award at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival. In addition to his global recognition and personal accomplishments, Cissé has served as a guiding light to other African filmmakers through his foundation of the Union of West African Cinema and Audiovisual Designers.

The week continued with the first African Film Summit at San Jose State. Themed Identities and Representations in African Cinema, panels for the event included ‘Decolonizing The Gaze: Reclaiming African Narratives,’ ‘African Cinema in Film Studies Curricula,’ ‘African Women in Cinema,’ ‘The Business of Film & Global Distribution,’ ‘Intersection of Technology and Narrative Traditions’ and ‘African Cinema in Global Media Reporting: Decolonizing the Gaze.’ The summit was followed by a special dinner at Adobe headquarters in San Jose.

Friday, SVAFF welcomed young students to the Historic Hoover Theater for a screening and workshop in the morning. By afternoon the staff rolled out the red carpet for opening ceremonies. The Mayor and local San Jose officials were on hand to take photos with the Cultural Icon honorees.

Source: Janeé Bolden / Courtesy

After watching the introductions of this year’s Cultural Icons Souleymane Cissé, Richard Mofe-Damijo, Julie Dash, and Dr. John Kani, attendees were directed into the main theater to watch the opening night films, both from Uganda. The first film, a narrative short called Half Chocolate, Half Vanilla, was directed by Kabuye Nodryn Evanci and tells the story of a young woman struggling with vitiligo who learns to appreciate her unique beauty.

The second film, a narrative feature titled Makula directed by Nisha Kalema and Dan Mugisha, also starred Kalema as a woman who believes she’s fallen in love, only to learn that her newlywed husband is running a black market business involving sex slavery as well as human and organ trafficking.

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Saturday, the lawn in front of the Historic Hoover Theater transformed into an African marketplace with clothing, food, and more items available for purchase. Inside the building, films across all genres were shown in three rooms, beginning at 11 am.  In the afternoon the festival held a fashion show, featuring intricate looks from African designers. Sunday, films continued to be shown until about 4 in the afternoon, when everyone departed to prepare for closing ceremonies. The event, held at the Montgomery Theater in San Jose was a true cinematic experience. The filmmakers walked the red carpet with djembe drumming and music in the air, as the crowd mingled and enjoyed food and drinks. After heading inside, the awards ceremonies began with a parade of flags, representing the 38 countries represented. One by one, cultural icons Souleymane Cissé, Julie Dash, Dr. John Kani, and Richard Mofe-Damijo were honored, along with actor Ozie Nzeribe, who was recognized with a 2024 Trailblazer Award. The event closed after handing off filmmaker awards for each genre.

Before our arrival at SVAFF, Chike Nwoffiah had offered a fitting description of his festival, “As soon as you arrive it’s like a family BBQ, you come in the back door, you’re going out through the front door.” After experiencing SVAFF we can confirm this to be true. We left feeling inspired, recharged, and connected, with new friendships and partnerships already beginning to blossom.

Visit the SVAFF website for more information about the films shown at this year’s festival, including the winners across all categories.