New film festival for Addis Ababa

 The inaugural Colours of the Nile International Film Festival (CNIFF) opens in Addis Ababa on 7 November and runs until 11 November.

The five-day event is screening 59 African titles from countries across the continent such as Algeria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Ivory Coast, Mali, Morocco, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa and Tunisia.

The Addis Ababa Blue Nile Film and Television Academy is organising the festival in collaboration with the Ethiopian Filmmakers’ Association. The festival's artistic director is Ukrainian Alla Verlotsky, a US-based distributor of international cinema, while the jury awarding the 11 prizes – including “The Great Nile Award” for best feature film director – is also an international affair.

It comprises New York documentary filmmaker Henry Corra, French director Karim Dridi, Ethiopian director Solomon Bekele Weya, and South African producer Letebele Masemola-Jones.

The festival’s three competitive selections are dedicated to features, documentaries and short films by African directors and/or produced by African countries over the last two years.

The festival’s various sections include “The Best of the Fest” which showcases critically-acclaimed films with African themes; a showcase of Ethiopian cinema; a tribute to Senegalese cinema; African documentaries from the Al Jazeera English news network; and “Location Africa”, featuring a selection of African films set in Africa but directed by non-African directors.