Inside Africa’s next big film boom: Why 2026 Kitale film week is betting on series production

As Kenya’s regional festivals fight for relevance in a rapidly shifting entertainment landscape, the 2026 Kitale Film Week appears determined to stake its claim in the future of African storytelling.

Its newly released programme for the fourth edition, running from 22 February to 1 March, signals a bold pivot: a deliberate prioritisation of series production as the continent’s most bankable creative frontier.

It’s an ambitious bet, one that positions the North Rift festival as more than a screening event.

It is trying to become a training ground, an industry lab, and a launchpad for the next generation of African screen storytellers.

But does the continent truly have the infrastructure, financing models and distribution power to sustain a series boom? Or is Kitale simply running faster than the industry can keep up?

At the heart of the 2026 programme is an industry segment that goes beyond panels and networking sessions.

The festival is building practical sessions on audience development, distribution, and most importantly, skills for creating binge-worthy episodic storytelling.

Festival leadership is explicitly framing series as the next major revenue frontier for creatives.

The rise of streaming platforms in Africa has undoubtedly fuelled this pivot. From Netflix’s investment in African originals to YouTube’s democratisation of episodic content, creators now have a direct pipeline to global audiences.

Yet the picture is not as rosy as festivals often present. While streamers offer visibility, they rarely offer favourable contracts.

Much of the revenue generated by African content remains in the hands of global platforms, not local creators.

Kitale’s approach, training creators from the ground up, tries to solve the foundational issue before the industry becomes dominated by exploitative models.

The festival wants to ensure that young filmmakers are equipped to negotiate, package, market and distribute series that can travel beyond their communities.

Despite its industry-heavy focus, Kitale Film Week 2026 still offers a vibrant selection of films. The programme features revered works such as Mati Diop’s Golden Bear-winning Dahomey, Dani Kouyaté’s Katanga: The Dance of the Scorpions, and Ghana’s The Fisherman, winner of the UNESCO Fellini Medal.

But even the curation of features feels aligned with the festival’s future-forward ethos. These are films that interrogate identity, memory, and power, stories that could easily expand into multi-episode worlds.

Kitale begins the programme with a tribute to the late Ann Mungai, featuring her groundbreaking 1992 film Saikati, and closes with a Charles Bukeko tribute anchored by his role in Malooned!

It is a symbolic gesture, honouring legacy while pivoting the next generation toward new formats and possibilities.

The introduction of the Youth Critics Circle signals another deliberate move: building a culture of accountability, analysis and informed viewership.

If African series are to compete globally, they need more than creators, they need audiences who can evaluate and demand quality.

Partnerships with distributors such as Tunga Media Afrika, FilmJoint, Sudu Connexion and Rushlake Media further reflect the shifting ecosystem. These players are increasingly influential in determining which African stories reach global markets.