Shorts Program 1: Crossings
New York African Film Festival 2026
May 6 - 12
Discover expeditions of identity in this sequence of short films. The program includes Tomisin Sarumi’s Departing, Johanna Makabi’s Happy Meal, Herrana Addisu’s The River, Eseoghene Obrimah’s Heartbreaks & Ocean Waves, Agathe Moubembé’s Faux Lion, Stephanie Adusei-Boateng’s Knotless, Rashida Seriki’s Leaving Ikorodu in 1999, and Chiemeka Offor’s Nwanne M Nwaanyi.
Departing
Tomisin Sarumi, 2025, U.S., 2m
Three individuals enter a temple to summon the Yoruba Orishas through ritual, music, and dance. As colonial influence reshapes spiritual practice, these traditions begin to shift. Over time, the rituals are altered and Westernized, losing their original form. What once connected them to the divine begins to fade.
Happy Meal
Johanna Makabi, 2025, France, 18m
French with English subtitles
U.S. Premiere
Thirtysomething Dom is undergoing therapy. As the Christmas holidays come to an end, he is granted, for the first time in years, the right to spend a day alone with his daughters. A precious day… that he dreads seeing come to an end.
The River
Herrana Addisu, 2024, Ethiopia/U.S., 18m
Amharic with English subtitles
The River is a film honoring Ethiopian culture and women’s experiences, inspired by the director’s childhood home in Kebena. Through the story of the Kebena River, it explores systemic barriers women face around forced marriage, education, and water access, highlighting the vital role of water in daily life.
Heartbreaks & Ocean Waves
Eseoghene Obrimah, 2025, Nigeria, 4m
New York Premiere
Heartbreaks & Ocean Waves is an experimental short film that follows a young woman in the aftermath of emotional loss as she journeys toward rediscovery. Through the symbolic interplay of hair plaiting, dance, and spiritual reflection, the film explores the tension and harmony between the head, heart, and spirit. With a distinctive three-frame visual style and sound design inspired by ocean tides, the film invites viewers into an intimate, sensory meditation on healing, womanhood, and becoming.
Faux Lion
Agathe Moubembé, 2025, France/Senegal, 9m
Wolof with English subtitles
When he sneaks into a Simb—a festival where men dressed as lions dance to the rhythm of the sabars—Assane, a quiet young boy, sets in motion more than a simple punishment. What he experiences sends him on an initiatory journey through fear, myth, and ancestral transmission.
Knotless
Stephanie Adusei-Boateng, 2025, Ghana/U.S./U.K., 18m
English and Twi with English subtitles
World Premiere
When a Ghanaian-American woman relocates to Ghana in search of community and belonging, a friend’s wedding seems like the perfect opportunity to build connection, until a series of unsettling encounters forces her to confront the country’s unspoken beliefs and practices.
Leaving Ikorodu in 1999
Rashida Seriki, 2024, U.K./Nigeria, 18m
English and Yoruba with English subtitles
New York Premiere
In Ikorodu, young Momo spends her final day at home, playing football and savoring familiar streets with her aunty Fade and Fade’s fiancé, Mahmoud. During the road trip to the airport, Fade questions whether her niece’s departure from Nigeria is truly for the best. Small detours and tender moments reveal the weight of leaving, the pull of home, and the bonds that hold family together.
Nwanne M Nwaanyi
Chiemeka Offor, 2026, Nigeria, 3m
Igbo with English subtitles
U.S. Premiere
Nwanne M Nwaanyi is a visual journey tracing the intangible roots two sisters share, tethered by something far stronger than blood and deeper than soil. They meet again at the first place they ever called home, the womb, to cry out the songs of their mother’s mother, a tune known only to an Igbo woman.
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