The 2025 Africa Film Finance Forum (AFFF) summit opened in Lagos on Tuesday with a powerful call to action: to harness the continent’s vast storytelling potential and build a unified, billion-dollar film economy.
The three-day event, which runs from September 16 to 18, is themed ‘Pan-African Film Economy: Building a $20B Industry for 1.4 Billion People’.
In her opening speech, Mary Ephraim-Egbas, the AFFF convener, urged stakeholders — including government agencies, investors, and private organisations — to collaborate in overcoming the deep systemic weaknesses that have long held the industry back.
She also called for an effective storytelling and film business that can transcend across African countries to achieve its billion-dollar economy.
“We gather under one banner of possibility, of shared purpose, and of storytelling as the currency of our common destiny. We are not here merely to discuss film. We are here to ignite a Pan-African movement — one that can create prosperity, dignity, and unity for 1.4 billion Africans,” Ephraim-Egbas said.
While lauding the “significant talents” Africa projects to the world, she argued that its film economy remains “undercapitalised, fragmented, and undervalued” on the global stage.
The core challenge, she noted, is not a lack of skill but a need for strategic investment and infrastructure.
Ephraim-Egbas outlined a future where African films compete “shoulder-to-shoulder with Hollywood and Bollywood — not as imitators, but as originators”.
She emphasised that achieving this requires a concerted effort to transform creativity into capital, ensuring filmmakers can thrive, not just survive.
“Africa has always been a continent of stories — carved into our caves, sung in our villages, passed down around fires, and now streamed to audiences across the world,” she said.
“From Lagos to Nairobi, Dakar to Johannesburg, the world leans in to listen, to watch, to be inspired. Yet, despite our brilliance, Africa’s film economy remains undercapitalised, fragmented, and undervalued.
“But we stand today at the edge of a new frontier: the opportunity to build a $20 billion Pan-African film economy. Not just numbers on paper — but lives transformed. Millions of young Africans are waiting in the wings: actors, directors, animators, cinematographers, screenwriters, makeup artists, sound engineers. They dream not just of survival but of success.
“This is not just about film. This is about jobs. About the enterprise. About turning creativity into capital.
“But for this to happen, governments must rise to the occasion. The private sector must step forward. Banks and investors must look beyond oil, minerals, and traditional industries to see the goldmine of cultural wealth before us. We must finance not just films, but futures.
“Imagine an Africa where every young person with talent has a pathway into the industry.”
The three-day summit, which began on Tuesday in Lagos, is scheduled to conclude on September 18.
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