Top movie directors making magic in Africa

Telling stories is one thing but fixing the pieces, managing the entire crew and cast and ultimately ensuring the story takes life and is liked by viewers is another. That is the role of movie directors. There are several top movie directors in Africa doing wonders in the industry.

Movie directing is an art that intersects visual intellect, man-management and acute understanding of details hidden in stories. Then transmitting that understanding to the cast and crew and keeping their energy levels right through the entire process.

So in today’s article, we turn our focus to profile some of the top movie directors Africa has produced. This is not an exclusive list and may not include your favourite, but please understand; that everyone is great but we can’t capture everyone. Who then begins our list?

Judy Kibinge, Kenya

Judy Kibinge might come as someone new to you especially if you have not tried East African movies, but trust me, she is one of the best in Africa. Judy’s debut film was in 2002, titled, The Aftermath. Since her debut, Judy has gone on to direct some of the top movies ever made in Kenya. Notable in her portfolio are Dangerous Affair,  Project Daddy and Something Necessary.

Judy who is a film writer and producer as well has been praised for using his films to speak about taboos, cultural practices and issues ignored by society, especially those affecting women. Her work on Killer Necklace in 2008 won her the Best Director gong at the Kalasha Awards in 2009.

Dangerous Affair, released in 2002, won an award at the Zanzibar Film Festival while her documentary, Coming of Age (2008) won the Best Short Documentary category at the 2009 Africa Movie Academy Awards. Judy Kibinge’s Something Necessary was also screened at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival.

Akosua Adoma Owusu, Ghana

Akosua Adoma Owusu is a Ghanaian-American writer, cinematographer, director and producer. Though based in the United States, Akosua Owusu began her maiden work as a director in Ghana when she wrote, directed and produced Ajube Kete in 2005. She has a master’s degree from the School of Film/Video and the School of Fine Art from the California Institute of the Arts. Explaining why she decided to begin her filming in Ghana, she told Elle, a South Africa-based women’s magazine that “I began filming in Ghana as a way to find a place in my Ghanaian heritage”.

Owusu’s notable works include the award-winning Kwaku Ananse (2013), Revealing Roots (2008), Me Broni Ba (2009), Drexciya (2011) and On Monday of Last Week (2017). Me Broni Ba won the Best Short Documentary at the 2009 Athens International Film and Video Festival and the 2009 Chicago Underground Film Festival. It also won the Silver Palm Award at the 2008 Mexico International Film Festival and the Berlinale Talent Campus award at the 2008 Berlin International Film Festival. Just to throw more light on why she is one of the top movie directors in Africa, let’s read further.

Ajube Kete won the Ken Jacobs Award for Best Experimental Short Film at the 2005 Virginia Film Festival. Kwaku Ananse won the Best Short Film category at the 2013 Africa Movie Academy Award, Best Short Film of the Year at the Académie des Arts et Techniques du Cinéma in 2013 and was nominated for the Best Short Film category at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2013. Akosua Owusu’s works have together won 31 awards since her debut in 2005.

Femi Odugbemi, Nigeria

Nigeria is the home of African movies so it is not surprising to have a son of the land on the list. And Femi Odugbemi is a true representation of what Nigeria does in the film industry in Africa. Femi is a multi-talented filmmaker who writes and also produces movies aside from directing. Femi Odugbemi’s extensive career in movie-making is a testament to his career successes.

He served as the head judge of the Africa Magic Viewer’s Choice Awards for five years, head judge of the Uganda Film Festival Awards for three years and also a juror and mentor of the Netflix/UNESCO African Folktales Reimagined project.

Some of the notable films under Femi’s belt are television dramas; Tinsel (2008), Battleground (2018), Brethren (2019) and Movement Japa (2020). His work in feature films includes Maroko (2006), Gidi Blues (2016) and 4th Estate (2017). Femi has also done extensive documentaries including Life in Lagos (2003), Keeping Hope Alive (2010), Nigeria Good People, Great Nation (2011) and Unmasked: Leadership, Trust, and the COVID-19 Pandemic in Nigeria (2021).

Femi Odugbemi is an Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (Oscar Awards) and International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (Emmy Awards) voting member. He was awarded the Film Excellence Award from the Society of the Performing Arts of Nigeria in 2013 and the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Nigerian Film Corporation in 2018. It is no wonder Femi is considered one of the top movie directors in Africa.

Amr Salama, Egypt

Amr Salama is a man of many trades; a film director, blogger, screenwriter and author. He was born in Saudi Arabia before he moved back to Egypt with his family. Amr began his journey into movie directing by directing short films and commercials.

His work includes On a Day Like Today (2008), Asmaa (2011), Excuse My French (2014), Made in Egypt (2014) and Sheikh Jackson (2017). Amr has not limited his adventures to movies alone as he has also worked on television series including Paranormal which premiered on Netflix in 2020. Paranormal was co-directed by Majid Al Ansari. He also directed Tayea, released in 2018. Amr Salama was a juror for the 2023 Emmy Awards. Though Amr may not be popular, especially among non-Arabic speakers, he is undoubtedly one of the top movie directors the continent can boast of.

Xolani Thandikaya Qubeka, South Africa

Xolani Thandikaya Qubeka, known as Jahmil X.T Qubeka is a South African screenwriter, producer and director. Jahmil is best known for his works on stories about crime, action and drama to illustrate life in post-apartheid South Africa.

Xolani’s works include Shogun Khumalo Is Dying (2006), A Small Town Called Descent (2010), Of Good Report (2013), Sew the Winter to My Skin (2018), Knuckle City (2019) and You’re My Favourite Place (2022). Jahmil has also worked on television series with his debut work;  Blood Psalms was premiered on Showmax in 2022. He also released a Netflix original series, Kings of Queenstown in 2023.

Xolani Qubeka won the Best Director category at the 15th Africa Movie Academy Awards for his work on Sew the Winter to My Skin. Of Good Report was adjudged the Best Film at the 2014 Africa Movie Academy Awards. It is no mean feat that he is featured here as one of the best movie directors in Africa.

Conclusion

And that brings us to the end of our list for today. As stated earlier, the list is not exclusive. Several high-ranking names would comfortably walk into this list as some of the best movie directors in Africa. Some of those names include Ghana’s Shirley Frimpong Manso, Peter Sedufia, Kofi Asamoah and Kuukua Eshun. In Nigeria, we cannot even finish in one day as the likes of Onuora Abuah, Funsho Adeolu, Frank Raja Arase, Pascal Amanfo and Michelle Bello are all available for top spots.

Philippe Lacôte, Souleymane Cissé, Abderrahmane Sissako, Wanuri Kahiu, Alain Gomis, Mahamat-Saleh Haroun and Dani Kouyaté are all noted as some of the top movie directors in Africa. We will probably update this list to include 50 or 100 someday to have most of these great names added.