Vanessa Obioha
Alternativa Film Festival has opened submissions for its 2027 version, marking its first growth to Africa, with $120,000 in prize cash throughout seven award classes.
The announcement was made on Thursday at MIP Africa, because the competition, based and supported by international mobility firm inDrive, invited filmmakers from Africa, Asia and Latin America to submit function movies for the competitors.
Short movie submissions, nonetheless, are restricted to African filmmakers, reflecting the continent’s standing because the competition’s focus area for 2027. All entries will need to have been accomplished after January 1, 2026.
Three of the seven awards are reserved for African filmmakers: the $20,000 Focus Award and two Short Film Awards value $10,000 every. African filmmakers are additionally eligible for the remaining classes.
Directors whose movies are chosen for the competitors will probably be invited to attend the competition and awards ceremony, with journey and lodging lined by the organisers.
Scheduled for late 2027, the competition’s host nation, metropolis and precise dates are but to be introduced. Submissions are free and shut on March 1, 2027.
Alternativa champions impact-driven cinema from the Global South, a area house to roughly five-sixths of the world’s inhabitants however which stays underrepresented on display screen.
Its growth into Africa comes because the initiative broadens its efforts to enhance the attain of movies from the area. Earlier this 12 months, it launched Alternativa Distribution, a non-profit mannequin designed to reinvest in filmmakers and native movie industries.
The distribution arm affords upfront minimal ensures for non-theatrical rights, funds subtitling and dubbing, and shares income after recovering direct distribution prices.
“Exceptional filmmaking can come from anywhere, but access to international audiences is still hindered by a deeply unequal system,” mentioned Arsen Tomsky, founder and chief government officer of inDrive. “Alternativa Distribution was created to challenge that imbalance.”
Its catalogue consists of Nepal’s ‘Elephants in the Fog,’ the nation’s 2027 Oscar submission and winner of the Un Certain Regard Jury Prize at Cannes in 2026; ‘No Good Men,’ Afghanistan’s co-production and the opening movie of the 2026 Berlin International Film Festival; Malaysia’s ‘Lost Land,’ which received the Orizzonti Special Jury Prize on the 2025 Venice Film Festival; and Tunisia’s ‘Four Daughters,’ a 2024 Oscar nominee.
Films chosen for the 2027 competition can also be thought of for inclusion within the distribution catalogue.
Alternativa started its competition journey in Almaty, Kazakhstan, in 2023, earlier than shifting to Yogyakarta, Indonesia, in 2024, and Medellín, Colombia, in 2026. The itinerant competition strikes to a brand new area with every version.
The Medellín version acquired 1,831 submissions from 55 international locations, attracting 11,000 attendees, 107 worldwide visitors and greater than 60 companions, making it the competition’s largest version to date.
“With each edition, Alternativa Film Festival grows,” mentioned Liza Surganova, head of Alternativa. “Not only in reach and scale, but also in the connections it creates and the opportunities it opens up for filmmakers.”
She mentioned the African version would construct on the competition’s earlier achievements whereas introducing new initiatives for its group.
“Africa is home to an extraordinary diversity of cultures, perspectives, and cinematic voices, and we believe this new chapter will deepen our understanding of what transformative cinema can be and help us forge valuable new connections,” she added.
The 2027 programme will function public screenings, discussions and different occasions exploring the social points addressed in chosen movies. An awards ceremony will recognise movies that mix creative excellence with the potential to drive social change.
The competition may also maintain Industry Days, an expert programme that connects filmmakers, producers, trade consultants and social influence leaders from throughout the Global South.
Elise Shick, a Malaysian producer of ‘Lost Land,’ which received the Nativa Award on the 2026 version, mentioned the competition had helped foster worldwide collaboration.
“Here, we have already formed a co-production project involving nine countries. We hope to screen it as the opening film of the next Alternativa Film Festival in Africa,” she mentioned.
The competition is open to fiction, documentary, animation and hybrid movies throughout all genres. Eligibility necessities, the listing of qualifying international locations and particulars of the award classes can be found on the competition’s official web site.
