FCAT 2024 Will Highlight Female Filmmakers , Afro-feminism

The 21st edition of the intercontinental film festival Tarifa-Tangier Film Festival (FCAT) will highlight female filmmakers with works about other women, and those that spotlight Afro-feminism issues.

The festival to hold in Tarifa, Spain, Tangier, Morrocco, and more recently Torunos Park, Seville, May 24 to June 1, will reflect via its forum The Tree of Words, will look at women issues that border “not only gender but also race, social class, ethnicity and religion that allows audience to appreciate the wealth and ‘plurality’ of African women’s lives, whilst promoting their inclusion and empowerment,” said the festival.

The festival’s decision to explore the Afro-feminism perspective draws from the recent successes of African female filmmakers in the global stage, from French Senegalese director, Mati Diop Berlinale’s Golden Bear for the film Dahomey; French-Senegalese filmmaker, Ramata Toulaye Sy’s Banel & Adama which is the first African film to compete in the 2023 Cannes Festival Palm d’Or Award, and Ava Duvernay who became the first Afro-descendant woman to compete in the official selection of the Venice Film Festival 2023 with the film Origin.

Heading the jury for the 2024 edition is Poet and Activities Coordinator at Andalusia Film Archive, Pablo Garcia Casado. He is joined by Film Producer and President of Andalusian Association of Women in Audiovisual Media, Agus Jimenez, and Moroccan Philologist, Decoloniality Activist and founder, Afrocolectiva Media Initiative, Chaimaa Boukharsa.

With the extension of the festival venues beyond Tarifa, Tangiers and surrounding satellite areas in both cities, and now Torunos Park, Seville, Spain, the festival will see FCAT headquarters, The Culture Initiatives Center (CICUS) and the Three Cultures Foundation – comprising the Audiovisual Council of Andalusia, the French Institute, and the General Consulate of Portugal, Seville, each host festival activities during its days of celebration. Celebration days of the festival include Monday the 27th, Tuesday the 28th, and Wednesday the 29th of May.

Over the past two decades and a year, FCAT has established itself as a contact point for African film productions and their counterparts in Spain, Europe and Latin America. With recent editions, FCAT has expanded its scope of offerings to prioritize the dissemination of Andalusian, Spanish and European films about Africa or shot in Africa, European-African co-productions and South-South co-productions between Ibero-America and Africa, with the understanding that cinema is a powerful tool for knowledge, development and cultural diplomacy.