About us

The Barcelona International African Film Festival (FICAB) proposes a journey through the diversity and creativity of the African continent narrated using cinematographic language. A benchmark within the wide range of festivals in the city of Barcelona that celebrates the quality of African movies and those produced by its diaspora.

The FICAB programs the best fiction and documentary films from Africa and its diaspora, and brings a unique cinematography and iconography to the Catalan audience. A cinema that depicts the continent’s social and political currents in the form of new genres and styles that will help promote emerging talents and creators.

In addition, FICAB wants to serve as a tool for challenging stereotyped images linked to this region and contribute to generate a debate through narratives and artists from the African continent and its diaspora in order to articulate a joint and transformative discourse, in Kenyan writer Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s words, for “moving the center” and help counter the rise of xenophobic and racist discourses

through an entertainment and dissemination platform

to outreach, articulate and connect with the cultural, educational and social fabric of the city, with special emphasis on reaching audiences in neighbourhoods that do not have access to this type of films, mainly with the African diaspora and the black community in Barcelona and Catalonia.

At an international level, the FICAB wants to consolidate collaborations with renowned African film festivals from around the globe, to weave a network with these festivals and internationalize the city of Barcelona from a cultural, social and integrating perspective.

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4 lines of action:

FICAB annual film festival
Under the motto of Bora Kabissa, the best in Swahili, we propose a contextualized selection of fictional works, documentaries and short feature films from Africa, made in Africa and by its diaspora, in addition to other activities.

FICAB in da Hoods

FICAB advocates activism that extends beyond the week of the festival screenings, by creating its own brand in order to bring African cinemas to different cultural centres around the city,

accompanied by round tables, workshops, debates and many more free activities that help contextualize films, weave community networks and to encourage the participation of residents, in general, and of African extraction and young audiences in particular.

Africa Day Celebration

Within the 25 May framework, we celebrate outdoor screenings of African films in collaboration with other entities and cinemas and the participation of African collectives and diaspora, complemented by food and livened up with music.

Collaboration with institutions (Retrospectives)

The FICAB and the Filmoteca of Catalonia, for example, agree to collaborate to program retrospectives of African cinematography that provide a more global vision of cinema, incorporating the gaze of classic and contemporary works from the continent. The screenings are accompanied by round tables and talks, as well as guests: African filmmakers, protagonists or specialists.

The CinemAfriques association is leading this project, with the support of the CEA, Wiriko and Africaye cultural entities, which have a well-known trajectory in the artistic and cultural dissemination and the contextualization of African realities. Moreover, the Institut de la Comunicació (InCom-UAB) is a strategic ally for promoting activities in the academic and professional sectors.