Out Of Africa: Titles From Nigeria & Sudan Selected For 2026 Cannes Directors’ Fortnight
The Cannes Directors’ Fortnight has announced its 2026 lineup, with titles from Nigeria and Sudan included in the mix. This year’s selection brings together established filmmakers, emerging voices (including 6 debut features), and directors whose artistic voices are still taking shape. The lineup beams the spotlight on works from 19 countries on five continents, with […]
Black News 
The Cannes Directors’ Fortnight has announced its 2026 lineup, with titles from Nigeria and Sudan included in the mix.
This year’s selection brings together established filmmakers, emerging voices (including 6 debut features), and directors whose artistic voices are still taking shape. The lineup beams the spotlight on works from 19 countries on five continents, with notable contributions from a number of countries with little or no international exposure.
Representing Nigeria are brothers Arie Esiri and Chuko Esiri with their feature film Clarissa, a contemporary reimagining of Virginia Woolf’s novel Mrs Dalloway. The film explores themes of longing and romance, weaving together present-day encounters with childhood memories.
The cast includes Sophie Okonedo, Ayo Edebiri, and India Amarteifio. Produced by CANEX Creations Inc. in collaboration with Neon, Clarissa builds on the Esiri brothers’ international recognition following Eyimofe: This Is My Desire (2020), which premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival.
Sudanese director Ibrahim Omar is also featured in this year’s showcase with his short film Nothing Happens After Your Absence, a story about grief, loss and the conflict between human dignity and institutionalised indifference. It follows a grieving father’s desperate search for a final resting place for a child, leading to a surprise discovery.
The 12-minute drama had its world premiere at the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, Germany, in 2024, where it won the Prize of the Jury of the Ministry of Culture and Science of North Rhine-Westphalia. It later screened at the Cairo International Film Festival 2024 and the Carthage Film Festival 2024, where it took the Golden Tanit (Short Film) prize.
Established in 1969 by the Société des Réalisatrices et Réalisateurs de Films (SRF), the Directors’ Fortnight is an independent section of Cannes dedicated to showcasing the most singular forms of contemporary cinema. Unlike the main competition, the Fortnight is non-competitive and presents a wide range of formats, including short, medium-length, and feature films across fiction, documentary, live action and animation. It is also characterised by its openness to audiences made up of non-professionals.
Since 2002, the Fortnight has also hosted the Carrosse d’Or award, presented by the SRF to a filmmaker who has left their mark on the history of cinema. Previous recipients include Ousmane Sembène and Souleymane Cissé.
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