21/03/2026
Women Calling the Shots - African Cinema in Spotlight is a two-day festival organized by Bergen Filmklubb. The festival is dedicated to celebrating the work of women filmmakers of African origin.
The festival programme brings together landmark works such as Sambizanga (1972) by Sarah Maldoror alongside more recent films. Together, they offer audiences in Bergen a chance to experience the political and artistic richness of African cinema - something that is still too often underrepresented in Western cinema programmes.
The lineup includes Sambizanga (1972) by Sarah Maldoror, a pioneering figure of African and diasporic cinema. Also featured is Atlantics (2019) by Mati Diop and I Am Not a Witch (2017) by Rungano Nyoni. Alongside these films, the festival will present a short film programme by Jyoti Mistry. The programme will include We Remember Differently (2005), When I Grow Up I Want to Be a Black Man (2017), and Loving in Between (2023.)
In addition to screenings, the festival foregrounds collective discussion and coming together. Bergen Filmklubb have invited Bergen based artist Amber Ablett. She will host a film club discussion in connection with Atlantics (2019), drawing on her experience with intersectional film club practices to explore the thematic and symbolic role of the sea.
The opening of the festival will feature a panel discussion, bringing together podcaster and lawyer Ashura Kayupayupa and leader of The Female Minority Voices Book Club, Anine Fatou Bråten. Their conversation will engage with themes of myth, resistance, violence and power, African women filmmakers and the politics of representation.
The festival is made possible with the generous support of Kulturdirektoratet.