African Women on the Film Festival Landscape

[...]cultivating a critical audience via ciné-clubs and after-screening debates has been a long-standing practice of these local film initiatives. Drawing from this background and historical context, this article and the associated timeline, outline: women's film festival practices in Africa as a vehicle for promoting leadership and featuring women as role models; the cultural leadership functions that African women have taken on at the helm of film festivals on the continent and the diaspora; the diverse film festivals in Africa and their initiatives toward the empowerment and advancement of women in cinema; the showcasing of African women at African film festivals around the world; the flagship international film festivals and their interest in including African women in the global cinematic conversation. The JCC's recognition of women dates to its early history, particularly at the fourth edition, and it continues to acknowledge their work by discerning its top awards as well as incorporating women in the key echelons of its organizational structure, notably Dora Bouchoucha who served as director of JCC, general delegate Lamia Belkaied Guiga, among others. [...]Sayida Bourguiba's 2013 doctoral dissertation on the history of the JCC attests to the increasingly visible presence of women in African and Arab film studies. In 1980 Fad'jal by Senegalese Safi Faye received the Tanit de bronze; Tunisian Moufida Tlatli hailed as laureate of the Tanit dor for her film Les Silences du palais in 1994; and Kaouther Ben Hania also of Tunisia was bestowed the Tanit dor in 2016 for Zaineb naime pas la neige. [...]the 2015 edition gave tribute to pioneer Safi Faye of Senegal, establishing a prize in her name: "symbolically, the award bears the name of Safi Faye, the first African woman filmmaker, an artist who has shown the way to a potentially woman-inspired and African cinematographic creation" Sayida Bourgidia notes that "festivals are the showcase for the exhibition and visibilization of all filmmakers and especially women, it is a way to show their creation and convey their point of view ... everything depends on the artistic directors, how they will perceive and choose their themes and the festival's editorial policy is very personal so sometimes many women find themselves at a disadvantage or are even ignored" Nonetheless, she asserts that: "women have always been visible in Tunisian cinema and the JCC, as a filmmakers, editors, actresses, costume designers, scri