African Federation of Film Critics (AFFC) is a panafricanist federation grouping African and diaspora's film critics associations, as well as individuals. In 2023, the AFFC is composed of 43 associations and 456 editors. Its headquarters are in Senegal.
History
Birth of the Africine’s network
From 17 to 21 February 2003, in Ouagadougou, a working group on film criticism gathers 26 radio and newspaper journalists from four black African countries : Senegal, Madagascar, Nigeria, Burkina Faso. It is presented by the critics Clément Tapsoba, Jean Roy and Olivier Barlet, and coordinated by Gervais Hien on behalf of FESPACO, with the support of the French Cooperation. During the assessment, they finally decided to continue the work begun through a networking and the joint production of content. An internet discussion group for cultural journalists named Africiné is created. In July 2003, a similar four-day working group was organised in Tunis by the Tunisian Association for the Promotion of Film Criticism (ATPCC), which reinforced networking decisions and examined logistical issues. In June 2004, the Fonds des inforoutes de l’Agence intergouvernementale de la Francophonie (AIF) granted a subsidy to set up the africine.org website, to produce content for it and to organise training working groups. The management of this start-up grant is operated on the basis of its reputation by the Africultures association under the control of an auditor appointed by the network, over a period of 24 months starting in November 2004, with an extension for the end of 2007. At the end of the year, 4221 films are listed on the website and 867 texts are published. There were 2560 in early 2023. On 9 September 2004, a meeting of the critics present at the International Women's Film Festival in Salé, Morocco, defined the objectives of the network: promote endogenous African writing on African cinema and solve its lack of international visibility, to encourage support at the film and media level for quality cinema with educational value, to improve the inclusion of Africa in the international critical circuits and to promote critical confrontation at this level on African films, to provide quality content of documentary and analytical value on African cinema, to provide the public, researchers and programmers a thematic database on African films and the corresponding professional contacts, to enable African journalists to watch new films and to have access to films in the repertoire as well as to fundamental works on cinema.
Creation of the African Federation of Film Critics
From 2 to 7 October 2004, the delegates of the Africiné network at the Carthage Film Festival met every morning at the headquarters of the Tunisian Federation of Film Clubs and decided to create a federation whose statutes and internal regulations were adopted. A charter proposing to "invent a new critical method and to affirm African criticism, not because it is the only authentic and legitimate one, but because it is generally without visibility and cannot participate in the global perception of African cinema and African cultures" was also voted. It ends with a quote from Paulin Soumanou Vieyra: "To accept criticism is to accept to be different and to think that one does not hold the absolute truth".
An executive board is elected : president : Clément Tapsoba (president of the association ASCRIC-B, Burkina Faso) 1st vice-president : Mohammed Bakrim (President of the Aflam Association of Film Critics of Morocco) 2nd vice-president : Jean-Marie Mollo Olinga (President of the Cinépresse association of Cameroonian film critics) secretary-general : Hassouna Mansouri (President of the TAPFC, Tunisian Association for the Promotion of Film Criticism) treasurer : Olivier Barlet (President of the association Africultures, France) The headquarters are in Dakar and Thierno Ibrahima Dia is appointed facilitator of the Africiné website and moderator of the internet discussion group.