The Festival des cinémas d’Afrique du Pays d’Apt has scheduled five days of screenings and filmmaker encounters in southern France, with its 24th edition running from 6 to 10 November 2026. The official programme listed Sol de Carvalho’s L’Ancrage du temps after Friday’s opening ceremony and Mahamat-Saleh Haroun’s Soumsoum, la nuit des astres later that evening. On Saturday, Haroun is scheduled to discuss his practice in a free morning masterclass at Micro-Folie d’Apt.

Broadcast Media Africa reported on 6 November that the selection includes 20 features, three short-film programmes and 41 screenings. Journal Zébuline also previewed the festival’s mixture of screenings and meetings with invited filmmakers. The organisers’ timetable offers a closer look at how audiences can encounter those films across several venues.

A programme with more than one point of entry

Cinéma Confluences Le César in Apt is the main venue. The programme also schedules screenings beyond that cinema, including a repeat showing of Soumsoum at Le Cigalon in Cucuron on Saturday. Saint-Saturnin-lès-Apt is due to host Mamadou Khouma Gueye’s documentary Liti Liti on Sunday. The organiser marks repeat screenings, sessions with expected guests and some events with separate ticketing arrangements.

The same programme offers several ways to see the work of Leyla Bouzid. À voix basse is scheduled for Saturday evening and again on Sunday afternoon at Le César. Other titles across the weekend include Alain Gomis’s Dao and Marie-Clémentine Dusabejambo’s Ben’imana. From Monday, the selection also includes Gessica Généus’s Marie Madeleine and the animated Bouchra by Orian Barki and Meriem Bennani. The line-up places different forms of filmmaking in the same programme, from short work and animation to feature fiction and documentary.

For a viewer with one free evening, the difference between a single showing and a repeat can determine what they see. For a group travelling from a nearby town, the venue matters as much as the time. Original-language screenings are generally subtitled in French, according to the organiser. That information lets viewers plan around their own language needs before selecting a session.

What the encounters add

The festival programme places discussions and exhibitions alongside the films. At Micro-Folie, Haroun’s Saturday masterclass is listed as a morning conversation moderated by Tahar Chikhaoui. On Monday the same venue is scheduled to host a discussion with Mohamed Nadif and Brahim Fritah. The venue guide also identifies Vélo Théâtre as the setting for a shorts programme presented by FCAPA junior.

A conversation can give a viewer another reason to make the trip. It can also bring attention to decisions that might otherwise pass unnoticed during a screening, such as the relation between a setting and a character’s point of view. Where a filmmaker attends a screening, audience questions may help programmers understand how people encounter a work outside the context in which it was made. The announced programme describes opportunities for those exchanges. Their attendance and impact would require reporting after the sessions.

The regional spread offers a useful comparison with RIM’s coverage of Half Heaven’s Barbados screening. In both settings, the audience encounter depends on decisions about where a film can be seen and what surrounds it. In Apt, the combination of a central cinema, nearby venues, repeat screenings and talks gives the public several ways into the selection.

The two listings for Haroun on Saturday morning also illustrate a real scheduling trade-off. The masterclass begins at 10:30 and the repeat screening begins ten minutes later at a different venue. The evening screening in Cucuron offers another option for viewers who want to attend the discussion first.

The official programme lists the closing ceremony and awards announcement for Tuesday, 10 November, followed by Rafiki Fariala’s Congo Boy. A separate additional screening in Joucas is listed for 11 November. Readers planning to attend can distinguish that extra session from the five-day main programme and use the organiser’s schedule to check individual times and venues.

*Illustration — AI-generated conceptual artwork about regional film exhibition.*

Why this matters

A film’s route to an international audience can run through a local cinema, a repeat screening or a discussion with a filmmaker. Apt shows how those choices shape access for African and diaspora cinema in a regional setting. For exhibitors and distributors, the programme offers a concrete example of why venue, subtitles and scheduling matter alongside the selection itself.

Sources

Topics: African cinema · Apt · France · Film festivals · Mahamat-Saleh Haroun

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