2025 New York African Film Festival Opening Night Recap

Africa can be seen as a root to the Black experience overall, which naturally makes it a huge source of material when it comes to telling impactful stories on the big screen. NYC film guru Mahen Bonetti recognized this as early as 1990, and by 1993 pulled together the right resources and partners to successfully launch the New York African Film Festival.

Now in its 32nd year, the annual event will take over NYC for the entire month of May starting with the Opening Night ceremony hosted at the Lincoln Center last night (May 7). Thankfully we were able to get an invite to the special occasion, which included a screening of Nigerian filmmaker Afolabi Olalekan’s feature debut, Freedom Way.

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The night represented greatly for African culture of past and present, with some decked out in traditional kente cloth while others rocked a more modern pairing of fitted caps and denim jeans. It was a feeling of welcomeness regardless of where you fall on the cultural spectrum, which also comes across in films screening from the Lincoln Center to the Maysles Documentary Center in Harlem and BAM in Brooklyn. In Freedom Way specifically, Olalekan takes us to Lagos to tackle the controversial issue of illegal police checkpoint searches that can result in theft and at worst even murder. Told from the perspective of several characters separated by less than six degrees, the overall narrative belongs to neither specifically and more along the lines of a collective study on how they each navigate the underground violence in Nigeria.

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The screening followed a Q&A between the director and Zimbabwean film curator, Keith Shiri. Many were shocked when Afolabi revealed that events depicted in Freedom Way were actually happening every single second in Lagos, even as he spoke those exact words all the way from New York. Afterwards, attendees were treated to a reception that included South African jazz and a culinary selection inspired by Nigerian cuisine.

The 2025 New York African Film Festival will run from now until May 31, following a theme of “Fluid Horizons: A Shifting Lens of a Hopeful World” and set to include an art exhibition (All Night We Waited for Morning, All Morning We Waited for Night by Bereket Adamu), a photo exhibition (Congo RE-Vue: A Fresh Perspective by Emerging Congolese Talent), a panel discussion on African cinema and outdoor screenings at St. Nicholas Park in Harlem to close things out.

Take a look below at more pics from the red carpet of the opening night screening for Freedom Way at the 2025 New York African Film Festival, going until May 31. Get tickets and schedules by clicking here:

Director/producer/actress Xoliswa Sithole

Director Zoey Martinson, The Fisherman

Director Kach Offor, Baptized by Fire

Director Lebert Bethune, Malcolm X: Struggle for Freedom

Director Ahmed Samir, Grandma (Teta)

Film curator Keith Shiri

Artist/AFF advisory board member Patricia Blanchet

Film at Lincoln Center deputy director Matt Bolish

Director Louise Dente, AJASS: Pioneers of the Black is Beautiful Movement

Photo exhibition curator/AFF board member Cecilia A. Zoppelletto

Director Zoe Ramushu, Damsel, Not In Distress

Director Devin Powell, Where are You From?

Director Afolabi Olalekan, Freedom Way

Animator Jean Michel Kibushi

NYAFF Founder/Executive Director Mahen Bonetti

Producer Dante Kaba, Blinded by the Lights

Oscar-Nominated Director Abderrahmane Sissako, Black Tea

Opening Night film director Afolabi Olalekan all smiles following the screening of his feature debut, Freedom Way

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