2026 Selection
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
29th May 2026
29th May 2026
Frame by Frame Festival 2026 Returns to Nairobi Celebrating Bold African Cinema
Nairobi, Kenya – After an explosive debut that transformed rooftops, conversations, and cinema spaces across Nairobi, Frame by Frame Festival returns in 2026 bigger, louder, and even more fearless.
Presented by Kalabars and powered by Creatives Garage, Frame by Frame has quickly become one of East Africa’s most exciting platforms for independent African storytelling, spotlighting daring short films, documentaries, experimental cinema, animation, and emerging new media from across the continent and the diaspora.
Frame by Frame Film Festival hosts films that make audiences laugh too loudly, sit in uncomfortable silence, cry unexpectedly, and argue passionately afterwards while holding smokies and tea.
We believe African stories deserve space in all their complexity. The messy ones. The queer ones. The political ones. The soft ones. The absurd ones. The stories that challenge power, archive memory, celebrate identity, and reimagine the future.
Following the success of the 2025 edition, which received hundreds of submissions from 26 countries and showcased 34 selected films from 16 African nations and the global diaspora, the 2026 festival expands its vision with new screenings, conversations, installations, industry sessions, and immersive storytelling experiences.
Frame by Frame continues to champion emerging filmmakers and boundary-pushing creatives experimenting with new forms of storytelling, including AI-powered cinema, hybrid documentary, animation, XR, and experimental visual narratives.
The 2026 edition aims to create a vibrant meeting point for filmmakers, artists, audiences, producers, and cultural disruptors interested in reshaping the future of African cinema from the ground up.
Cinema should not just entertain. It should provoke. Archive. Disturb. Heal. Seduce. Remember and sometimes it should leave you slightly confused while staring at Nairobi traffic wondering what exactly you just watched.
The films selected in 2026 are: Biryani (Kenya), Melusi (South Africa), Bond of Tera (Uganda), Finding my voice (Kenya), Born 2 Be Great (Nigeria), O Pai da Rainha de Angola (Angola, Brazil), The Fisherman (Ethiopia), Peek (Tanzania), Hagere (Ethiopia), The red letter (Kenya), Lollipops and Cigarettes (Kenya), Staged (Nigeria), Love Bite (Uganda), The Chess (Uganda), Tranz (Kenya).
About Frame by Frame Festival
Frame by Frame Festival is a bi annual independent film festival based in Nairobi, Kenya, dedicated to showcasing bold African short films, documentaries, experimental cinema, animation, and emerging storytelling formats. Created by Kalabars and Creatives Garage, the festival exists to amplify authentic African voices, nurture emerging filmmakers, and create accessible cinematic experiences that connect audiences through powerful storytelling.
For press inquiries, partnerships, and festival updates:
2025 selection
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
10th July 2025
10th July 2025
Lights, Camera, Realness: Frame by Frame Festival Officially Launches!
Nairobi, Kenya – Kalabars, the on-demand platform powered by Creatives Garage, is thrilled to announce the launch of the very first Frame by Frame Festival, following the wildly successful June 2025 showcase that had audiences laughing, crying, and questioning everything in between.
Frame by Frame is not your average, tuxedo-clad, canapé-fueled film festival. We’re talking rooftop screenings. Indie brilliance. Stories so raw, they’ll stick to your ribs. Documentaries and short films crafted by Africans and the diaspora, bursting with flavor, rhythm, chaos, and heart.
We believe African stories matter, the wild ones that make your aunties whisper in church, the tender ones that linger long after the credits, the rebellious ones that flip the script and spill the tea. This festival isn’t about fitting into boxes. It’s about breaking them, then filming it.
In June 2025, we put out a bold call for submissions and Africa answered loud and proud.
From animations to AI-powered films, from experimental docs to spellbinding shorts, we received hundreds of submissions from 26 countries, and selected 34 incredible films from 16 African countries and the global African diaspora.
From animations to AI-powered films, from experimental docs to spellbinding shorts, we received hundreds of submissions from 26 countries, and selected 34 incredible films from 16 African countries and the global African diaspora.
Here’s the lineup serving bold cinematic energy:
117 Shoes – Uganda
A Future Untold – Zimbabwe
AAHi – Ghana
Alberta's Room – Rwanda/Belgium
And Then I Imagined Living – Kenya
Dark Valentine – Kenya
Death Valley – Kenya
Dinner for Three – Kenya
Hell or High Water – Kenya
Her Lost Childhood – Nigeria
In a Jam – Kenya
Inconnu – Algeria
Koko and the Colas – Kenya
Leak – Kenya
LEGADO. HUMANIDAD ARREBATADA. – Colombia
Lucid Dream – Kenya
Mama Said – Kenya
Mfungwa wa Nafsi – Kenya
Moi, la forêt et le Hibou – Côte d'Ivoire
More Trees More Life – Nigeria
My Mother's Diary – Congo
My Winter Tears – South Africa
Nafasi – Tanzania
Run to God – Cameroon
Seek Body Contour – South Africa
sKins – Dire Dawa – Ethiopia
Sufisme – Tunisia
The Glass Heart – Kenya
The Nabiyotum Crater – Kenya
Thief – Kenya
What's in a Name – Nigeria
Wilt – Kenya
Without a Map or a Clue – Sudan/Egypt
Wrong Way – Ghana
1992 – Kenya
Retrouvailles – DRC/Belgium
These films touch everything; from mythology to memory, heartbreak to humor, climate justice to queer joy, sci-fi to sacred rituals.
The films will premiere at a live screening event in Nairobi, Kenya, date and location to be announced soon, with a simultaneous online watch party available for our global audience across Africa and beyond.
About Kalabars
Kalabars is an on-demand video platform by Creatives Garage dedicated to amplifying African voices through film, animation, and original storytelling. It’s where culture meets code, art meets activism, and storytelling knows no borders.
“African film is how we remember, resist, and reimagine. Every frame is a heartbeat. Every story, a revolution.”
— Thayù Kilili, Frame by Frame Curator
— Thayù Kilili, Frame by Frame Curator
For press inquiries, partnerships, or interview requests:
curator@creativesgarage.org
curator@creativesgarage.org
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#AfricanCinemaRising
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