Washington, D.C. — The New African Film Festival launches its 22nd edition on March 13 at the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center, presented alongside the Africa World Now Project. Organizers call this one of the event’s most expansive lineups, drawing entries from 18 countries. Full details drop Feb. 18.

‘My Father’s Shadow’ leads the pack. Akinola Davies Jr. directs this debut feature, Nigeria’s first Cannes selection. It snagged a Caméra d’Or Special Mention there. The U.K. later tapped it as its official entry for the 2026 Academy Awards best international feature. Godwin Egbo and his real-life brother Chibuike Marvellous Egbo star with Sope Dirisu. The story unfolds on Nigeria’s first post-coup election day, probing memory, fatherhood and shifting politics.

Standouts pack the schedule. Ben Proudfoot, a two-time Oscar winner, delivers ‘The Eyes of Ghana.’ The short honors Ghanaian cameraman Chris Hesse. Suzannah Mirghani steps up with ‘Cotton Queen,’ Sudan’s first narrative feature by a woman director. ‘Laundry,’ a South African drama set in the apartheid era, bowed at the Toronto Film Festival.

Cannes vets join the mix. Thomas Ngijol’s ‘Untamable’ screens alongside ‘The Little Sister,’ Queer Palm winner. Morad Mostafa’s debut ‘Aisha Can’t Fly Away’ rounds out fresh voices. Officials note multiple Oscar submissions too—from Egypt, Morocco, Sweden, South Africa and the U.K.

Separate film news hits from Immersive Enterprise Laboratories. The group released ‘The Science of Animation,’ a short documentary now streaming on its site and social channels. Crews shot it during a live pop-up at San Diego’s Fleet Science Center. Visitors dove into a full animation pipeline for one weekend. Story, character and world-building unfolded side by side.

Blake Baxter, IEL co-founder, said the setup scraps old linear workflows. “This exhibit proved that the animation process itself can change,” he added. “We’re asking what happens when story, character and world evolve together in the same space at the same time.” High-end gear powered it: HP Z Workstations with AMD Threadripper CPUs, NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell graphics, Unreal Engine, Adobe Substance 3D, Maxon Cinema 4D, ZBrush, Xencelabs tablets, Vicon motion capture, JALI facial animation, plus Rebound Sound and Peel Software tools.

Ruby, IEL’s mascot character, led tours. Guests scanned materials, captured motion and watched changes hit animated scenes instantly. Daniel Urbach, the other co-founder, put it bluntly. “For decades, animation has been built around delay and separation,” he said. “When performance, environment and cinematography happen together, storytelling becomes something you experience as you create it.”