Contemporary African filmmakers: Names to remember

Dangarembga is not only a filmmaker but also successfully writes novels and screenplays, including for the film 1993 "Neria" that went on to become the most-watched film in Zimbabwe. In 2020, Dangarembga was arrested in Harare at a protest against government corruption and still faces trial a year later.

Born in Nairobi in 1980, the director had a global cinema success with her 2018 film "Rafiki." The first Kenyan film shown at the Cannes Film Festival, it portrays a love affair between two young Kenyan women and was banned in her home country. Kahui is now off to Hollywood, where she will direct "The Thing about Jellyfish," based on the acclaimed novel by Ali Benjamin.

The Nigerian filmmaker, who also makes television series and music videos, is a big name in Nollywood — which is what people call Nigerian cinema, the second most productive in the world after Indian film. Commercially, Adetiba's feature films are hugely successful. She is producing her next film, a sequel to her blockbuster "King of Boys," exclusively for Netflix.

The Nigerian director is one of the most important representatives of the new Nigerian cinema ("New Nollywood"), which is characterized by narrative complexity, a new aesthetic — and a much bigger budget. Afolayan's thriller "The Figurine — Araromire" (2009), one of Nigeria's most commercially successful films, is considered to have launched the movement.

Sissako's films deal with topics including globalization, terrorism and exile. Born in Mauritania and raised in Mali, the film director and producer is considered one of the best-known filmmakers from sub-Saharan Africa. His 2014 film "Timbuktu" was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars and won several prizes at France's Cesar Awards as well as at the Cannes Film Festival.

The film director from the Ivory Coast most recently premiered "La Nuit des Roies" (2020) at the Venice International Film Festival. The film, reminiscent of the stories from the "One Thousand and One Nights" Arabian folk takes, tells the story of convicted criminal named Zama who becomes a convincing storyteller in order to survive at La Maca prison in the Ivory Coast capital, Abidjan.

Promising new talent: The 27-year-old director from the Democratic Republic of Congo saw her film "Maki'La" debut at the 2018 Berlin Film Festival. The young self-taught director spent three years working on her first feature film, which is the story of a group of street children in Kinshasa. The film won top prize at the Ecrans Noirs African film festival in Cameroon.

Moussa Toure is a Senegalese film director, producer and screenwriter and has long been a major figure in African cinema. His feature films and documentaries are often political. Toure describes his 2012 film "La Pirogue," which tells the story of refugees' journey by boat from Africa to Europe, as a "slap in the face of the Senegalese government."