BSIFF Launches Youth Film Festival for Young Filmmakers

The Black Star International Film Festival (BSIFF) has launched the BSIFF Youth Film Festival, a new annual travelling festival designed to give young people greater space to create, experience, and shape the future of cinema.

The initiative was launched during the 11th edition of BSIFF in Kumasi on September 27, 2026, expanding the festival’s focus on audience development, education, access, and the future of Africa’s creative industries.

At the centre of BSIFF Youth is a simple idea: films by young people and films for young people.

A Festival Built Around Young People

The festival will give young filmmakers aged 25 or younger an opportunity to submit their work, with no minimum age requirement. Adult mentorship and technical support will be allowed, but the principal creative authorship and decision-making must remain with young filmmakers.

BSIFF says the approach is intended to create a more level playing field for young creators, including those starting with limited resources or making their first films using mobile phones.

The festival jury will also be made up of young people aged 25 or younger. They will receive orientation in film appreciation and criticism, allowing them to develop as critics, jurors, programmers, and future cultural decision-makers.

From Mobile Films to Gaming

BSIFF Youth will encourage more than conventional filmmaking. Its program will embrace mobile filmmaking, micro-films, animation, gaming, interactive storytelling, and other emerging forms of screen creativity.

The initiative recognizes the growing connection between film, animation, gaming, and digital media, where skills in storytelling, writing, character development, sound, visual design, editing, coding, and visual effects can open different creative and career pathways.

The festival also sees mobile technology as an important starting point for young African creators.

Its message is simple: access to expensive equipment should not determine whose story gets told.

Taking Cinema to Young Audiences

BSIFF Youth will begin as a one-day festival held annually, but unlike a traditional fixed-location festival, it will travel to different communities.

The goal is to bring films, training, creative opportunities, and industry exposure closer to young people while helping build the next generation of African cinema audiences.

The inaugural 2027 edition will announce its location and date soon, along with submission dates, categories, and detailed participation guidelines.

BSIFF Founder and Executive Chair Juliet Yaa Asantewaa Asante said the initiative is about starting young and helping young people recognize the creative possibilities available to them.

The launch comes as BSIFF completes its 11th edition and enters its second decade of creating platforms for filmmakers, audiences, and the wider African film ecosystem.

BSIFF Youth Film Festival
Films BY young people + films FOR young people.
25 and below. No minimum age.
Annual. One day. Travelling.
Coming in 2027.

Source: Black Star International Film Festival (BSIFF)