The Great Lakes Creative Producers Lab has unveiled its 2026 selection of participants. Taking part will be 13 producers with fiction and documentary features in development will take part, as well as two observing producers.
The members of the cohort come from Sudan, Uganda, Kenya, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, Ethiopia and Rwanda. The week-long lab runs Oct. 26-30 in Kigali, Rwanda.
Participants get to work on their projects via workshops, one-on-one mentoring and peer sessions. The focus is on the creative, leadership and practical skills needed “to develop, finance and deliver films that compete internationally while staying rooted in local voices,” organizers said.
Four members will work with the cohort. They are Themba Bhebhe, who led diversity & inclusion at the Berlinale’s European Film Market from 2017 to 2024 after a decade in international sales, South African producer and programmer Tiny Mungwe, who produced the pan-African anthology Generation Africa and is a member of the artistic team of Locarno Open Doors, Namibian writer, director and producer Perivi Katjavivi, who runs Old Location Films and saw his feature Under the Hanging Tree premiere at the International Film Festival Rotterdam and became Namibia’s first international Oscar submission, and Neigeme Glasgow-Maeda, the first Trinidadian producer with a film selected at Cannes who also founded Luxembourg-based NGM Productions.
“African filmmakers have the ambition, the talent and the stories,” said Juliana Kabua, one of the founders of Great Lakes. “The strongest industry will be built by producers who work across borders, and the Great Lakes Creative Producers Lab is a catalyst for that. This year’s cohort is re-imagining how Africans work together and harness each other’s resources.”
2026 marks the first year that the lab brings in observing producers, who attend without a project but get a chance to focus on long-term career development.
The 2026 edition is supported by the French Embassy in Kenya, the Fund for Authors and Producers From Africa, Africalia, the Institut Français Kigali, L’Espace, and Imitana Productions, in partnership with IFFR Rotterdam Lab and Locarno Open Doors.
Check out the African producers selected for the Great Lakes Creative Producers Lab 2026 below.
Fiction
Yasir Faiz, In Deep Visions (Sudan)
Emmanuel Gashumba, Gripmagic Ltd. (Uganda)
Nivolla Musaka Sifuna, Royalz Studios (Kenya)
Jean-Merci Namegabe, Classic Imagez Production (DRC)
Lilian Sundqvist, Malz Entertainment (Tanzania)
Mahder Mulusew, Bazeto VFX plc (Ethiopia)
Lidiya Mitiku, n/a (Ethiopia)
Joan Cherono, n/a (Kenya)
Documentary
Phyllis Irungu, House of Magneticah (Kenya)
Walta Gabriel Busulwa, Waltadocs productions limited (Uganda) & Waltadocs film Corp. (Canada) (Uganda)
Noura Adil, Weika Production (Sudan)
Danny Amisi Bishikwabo, n/a (DRC)
Inès Girihirwe, Kazi Productions (Rwanda)
Observers
Fiston Mudacumura, MEB CBC (Rwanda)
Fanny Muhorakeye, Imirera Productions (Rwanda)