The annual Guido Huysmans Young African Film Makers Award (YAFMA) puts young African film talent in the spotlight. We received more than 2000 submissions. 31 shorts have been nominated for YAFMA 2022.

23 & 24 April 2022, 11u00 – 18u00, M - Museum, Vanderkelenstraat 28, 3000 Leuven

Awards evening: Friday 6 May 2022, 20.00, Kinepolis Leuven i.s.m. de stad Leuven.

YAFMA FICTION 2022

Saturday 23 April 2022, M Leuven, Vanderkelenstraat 28, 3000 Leuven

11u00 West-Africa

Subtitles: English.

• Alossmann, 2021, Kobby Ankomah Boateng, Ghana, 28 min.

An unemployed young man returns to his hometown to start a teaching job so that he can pay the dowry and marry his childhood sweetheart. But he faces unexpected challenges.

• Astel, 2021, Ramata-Toulaye Sy, Senegal, 24 min.

October, the end of the rainy season in Fouta, a remote area in northern Senegal. Astel (13 years old) takes, together with her father, care of their herd of cows. One day, in the middle of the desert, a meeting between Astel and a shepherd disrupts the peaceful daily life Astel and her father have built.

• La pierre précieuse, 2021, Babacar Hanne Dia, Senegal, 20 min.

Two children find a precious stone at an archaeological site and decide to hand it over to the village chief. But Kalidou, an old man with a lot of debts, has other plans for the stone: he wants to sell it to an antique dealer.

 

14u00 Maghreb

Subtitles: English.

• What We Don’t Know About Mariam, 2021, Morad Mostafa, Egypte, 25 min.

Mariam has severe abdominal pain and goes to the hospital. The tension between Mariam and her husband mounts by the minute - until the situation escalates completely.

• Ashes, 2021, Mustapha Farmati, Marokko, 22 min.

A one-eyed man walks through the barren wilderness. He hopes to find the holy man, the only one who can give him back his sight.

• Le retour, 2021, Isabelle Christiane Kouraogo, Marokko, 17 min.

Salimata, a foreign student in Morocco, learns that her sick mother is dying. She wants to go home as soon as possible to see her one last time. As she has no money for a plane ticket, she decides to hitchhike.

• Tender Threads, 2021, Ouijdane Khallid, Marokko, 24 min.

Day in and day out, Radia takes care of her sick mother. A mother who can no longer speak, but who keeps her daughter completely under her control with her body language. Radia longs for a life of her own, with a future for herself.

• Postponed Spring, 2020, Walid Bouchebbah, Algerije, 20 min.

A family moves from the capital Algiers to Bejaïa. They hope to find peace and to develop their lives. 

• Frida, 2021, Mohamed Bouhjar, Tunesië, 21 min.

Frida, a primary school teacher, is a strong defender of equal opportunities for girls and boys. Some parents find her ideas non-conformist and want her removed from her position. Can Frida cope with the protests and maintain her integrity? ‎

 

16u40 Eastern-Africa

Subtitles: English

• 80 plus, 2018, Lucky Lora Atwiine & Mugume Davidson, Oeganda, 11 min. 

Johnson has to get the best grades in the class; his tyrannical father is not satisfied with less.

• Heaven Sound Boring, 2020, Patience Nitumwesiga, Oeganda, 22 min.

A man knows that his terminally ill daughter does not have many days left to live. The girl tries to show her deeply religious Christian father that, according to her long-dead grandmother, death is not the end of life in the African tradition.

• Gatoni, 2021, Fabrice Nzabonimpa, Rwanda, 16 min.

Gatete changes when he meets Mutoni, a local bar waitress. They start talking and discover how much they have in common.

• Breaking Ground, 2021, Inès Girihirwe, Tunesië, 6 min.

Held hostage in a toxic relationship, a young woman decides to change the course of her life, to let go of everything for once and do what she wants to.