The Bertha Film
Accelerator: Politics and Power
A Residency Programme for Documentary Filmmakers From the African Continent
2026
The Bertha Film Accelerator: Politics & Power is a transformative eight-day residency designed to support bold, justice-driven documentary filmmakers from across Africa. Hosted at the Bertha Retreat in the Cape Winelands, South Africa, the Film Accelerator provides a rare opportunity for filmmakers to step away from production pressures and immerse themselves in creative development, collaboration, and critical thinking alongside peers and mentors.
Development spaces, and global networks remain limited for African documentary filmmakers, especially those who are daring to speak truth to power. We invited foundations, and aligned organisations, to support courageous film makers from the African continent, challenging power through sponsoring participation in the 2026 edition of the Bertha Film Accelerator.
What the Accelerator Offers Participants
The 2026 Bertha Film Accelerator: Politics & Power provides an immersive space for documentary filmmakers to:
- Workshop their films through daily peer sessions and expert feedback
- Deepen their understanding of themes like narrative structure, character development, and community impact.
- Reflect and refine creative direction in a supportive, distraction-free environment
- Build lasting connections with fellow filmmakers from across the continent
- Ongoing access to the mentors within the Bertha Foundation’s network
Each day will combine creative workshopping, mentorship, and facilitated time to focus on the challenges and possibilities in telling politically engaged stories through documentary film.
The programme areas of the Film Accelerator will cover:
- Narrative Structure
- Producing
- Community Impact
- Editing
- Distribution
Alyaa Musa
Location: Sudan
Alyaa is an alumni of European Audiovisual Entrepreneurs (EAVE), Berlinale talent, Cannes docs and Rotterdam Producers connection alumni. Alyaa is an independent producer and filmmaker from Sudan. She studied Filmmaking at London Film School and has an MA with distinction in Cinematography and Post Production from the University of Greenwich. Alyaa has multiple creative credits as a producer and co producer, director, cinematographer and editor in a number of internationally recognized films.
Co founder of Black Balance Artistic Production Sudan and founder of TOOMA Production Rwanda, Alyaa is currently leading multiple documentaries and fiction projects of different genres.
Christina Ifubaraboye
Location: Nigeria
Christina Ifubaraboye is a writer and filmmaker, founder of IMBUU, and a Hot Docs–Blue Ice Docs Fellowship 2022/23 fellow. She is currently in post-production on her debut feature documentary, Pülö: bloodstream of the Kirike.
She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mass Communications from the University of Hertfordshire and has built a multidisciplinary career across media, public affairs, and communications.
Her early work includes writing for Delta State Broadcasting and producing news for radio and television. She has also written for a leading culinary magazine and blog in Lagos, curating stories for an inquisitive and discerning audience.
Before founding IMBUU, she worked across brand strategy and storytelling at the Ben Enwonwu Foundation, Omenka Magazine, and Omenka Gallery, and later in advertising at Evoke Communications.
Her broad experience across broadcasting, publishing, advertising, and brand strategy informs her ability to lead a creatively driven organisation. Passionate about film, media, and popular culture, she focuses on challenging misconstrued narratives and amplifying othered voices, using storytelling as a powerful tool for change.
Chris Kets
Location: South Africa
Chris is a South African Documentary filmmaker and Cultural producer interested in the spaces between music, sub-culture and underground histories.
Chris's unique directorial and cinematographic style has earned him a place in the permanent display at London's Museum of Design with his documentary short, Gqomwave.
Chris was the Cinematographer and Editor on award winning documentary and installation work Not In My Neighbourhood (2018), interrogating issues of spatial apartheid in Cape Town in conversation with Sao Paulo in Brazil and Brooklyn in New York.
Chris's recent short documentaries include "Freedom Sounds: From Kwaito to AmaPiano" (2022) charting the history of South African music genres as expressions of freedom, and "6SENSE" (2024) a hybrid documentary on visually-impaired Gqom musician Mxshi-Mo fromPietermaritzburg, which premiered at Encounters Documentary festival, BFI and WOMEX in Denmark.
Evelyne Agli
Location: Benin
Evelyne Agli is a filmmaker from Benin known for directing and producing documentaries focused on social issues, notably Nadine et Nadia, nous voulons aussi gouverner. Educated at ISMA, she has received international recognition through labs like Ouaga Film Lab for her work highlighting local stories and women's roles.
Jigar Ganatra
Location: Tanzania
Jigar Ganatra is an award-winning, visionary Tanzanian filmmaker whose ecophilosophical documentaries challenge humanity to rethink our connection to nature. With a deep appreciation for the art of storytelling and a thirst for truth, Jigar has made films with communities living in the East African Savannah, the lush Amazon Rainforest and the towering peaks of the Himalayas. His evocative works aim to preserve and promote the cultural richness and ecological diversity that is at the heart of our planet.
As the founder of the African School of Storytelling (AFRISOS), Jigar is also dedicated to empowering the next generation of filmmakers and photographers in Africa, providing them with all-expenses-paid learning opportunities to help them develop their craft and share their own unique perspectives with the world.
Mark Mushiva
Location: Namibia
Mark Mushiva is a Namibian technologist, street poet, filmmaker and multi-disciplinary artist. His work focuses on making games, cinematic 3D worlds, and wearable AI devices that try to subvert the colonial legacies of today's technologies. He has a PhD in Human-Computer Interaction from the University of Trento (Italy).
He has written various works around games as socio-technical interventions for social interaction and cultural preservation. Mark is a research fellow at the investigative agency Forensic Architecture, where he studies the environmental impact of German colonial crimes in Namibia through 3D engines, remote sensing tools, machine learning, and decolonial frameworks of thought.
Mthobisi Khanyile
Location: South Africa
Mthobisi Khanyile is an award-winning South African filmmaker, performer, and the visionary founder of Isilwane Films. Khanyile ’ s work is defined by "sweat equity" — a disciplined, self-taught approach to cinema that prioritizes human investment and social disruption. Based in KwaZulu-Natal, he has built a reputation for capturing the "heartbeat of the people" through high-stakes narrative and documentary storytelling. Khanyile ’s current slate reflects a fierce commitment to archiving contemporary South African struggles.
In the non-fiction space, he is developing two high-impact documentaries: If the Streets of Phoenix Could Talk, a visceral investigation into the 2021 unrest and racial reconciliation, and a timely exposé on the E-hailing vs traditional taxi industry called The People The Protest and The Price Of Change, exploring the labor conflicts and digital frontier of the informal economy. In the fiction realm, he recently secured development funding from the KZN Film and Tourism Authority for The Movement of My Feet, a "Sports Noir" centered on a hearing-impaired tennis prodigy in rural Umbumbulu.
A seasoned executive, Khanyile serves as the Director of the Film Faculty for the Imbewu Arts Festival, leading the festival ’ s strategic transition into the digital era. His debut feature film, Emanzini funded by Durban Film Office—a poetic exploration of heritage and sport—is now complete and actively seeking marketing and distribution funding to reach global audiences. Beyond the lens, Khanyile is a decorated performer, honored as Best Actor at the 2024 Africa Emerging Filmmakers Awards (AEFA).
Rami Jarboui
Location: Tunisia
Rami Jarboui is a Tunisian filmmaker born in 1990. He developed a passion for storytelling at an early age and later studied Multimedia at ISAMM in Tunis. His short film Soup won the Grand Prix International at the Mobile Film Festival in Paris in 2017. Since then, he has directed two short fiction films that have been selected at major international festivals worldwide. His latest short film, The Bird’s Placebo, was selected for prestigious festivals including the Sundance Film Festival and Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival .
Rami’s work blends documentary realism with poetic and experimental forms, engaging complex social and human themes through a strong and distinctive visual language. He is currently developing his first feature-length, The Salt of the South, which explores ecological degradation and forms of resistance in southern Tunisia.
The project has already received significant international recognition, including the Unifrance Doc Award for Best French Co-production at the CPH:DOX Forum 2025 in Copenhagen, Best Non-Fiction Project at the Durban Film Festival, the Main Prize at the CineGouna Platform Award, and the CNCI Prize at Chabaka in Carthage Film Festival.
THE FILM ACCELERATOR MENTORS
Emily Wanja
Location: Kenya
Emily Wanja uses storytelling to drive social change. She works in collaboration with organisations, people and communities that imagine a more just world is possible. She is an award-winning Impact producer, working with stakeholders across policy, civil society, foundations and communities.
As Director of African Programs at Doc Society, she leads on the African Programming and Climate Story Labs - ecosystem gatherings that unite stakeholders to identify transformative climate narratives. Having overseen 14+ labs across five continents, Emily also serves on UNFCCC's ECCA steering committee and advises multiple organizations weaving partnerships to harness the power of storytelling for social change.
Jihan El-Tahri
Location: France/Egypt
Jihan El Tahri an award-winning film producer/director, visual artist and writer. She is a member of The Academy (Oscars) since 2017 and has directed more than 15 films mostly archive based. Her visual art exhibitions have travelled to renowned museums and Biennales around the world.
Her writings include many essays in renowned publications and she has published books with Penguin and Grasset. She mentors in various film and art labs. El Tahri serves on boards including IDA, PFI, FEPACI and The Guild of Filmmakers in the Diaspora.
Kethiwe Ngcobo
Location: South Africa
Kethiwe Ngcobo is an accomplished South African filmmaker, with over two decades of work across drama, features, and documentaries. As founder of Fuzebox in 1997, she has built a career defined by authentic African storytelling. As SABC's inaugural Head of Drama (2004-2010), her leadership earned productions 120 SAFTA awards and two International Emmy nominations.
Her work includes seven acclaimed drama series spanning nearly 300 episodes and four feature films including Inkabi The Hitman (Netflix, 2024). Her documentaries And She Didn't Die 1001 Days and Mother City have garnered significant international recognition at Sheffield Doc Fest, IDFA, AFRIFF, and FESPACO.
Khalid Shamis
Location: South Africa/Portugal
Khalid, a London-born Libyan-Capetonian filmmaker, is a documentary director, producer, and editor with over 25 years of experience across the UK, Middle East, and Southern Africa.
He leads Rough Cut Lab Africa (RCLA), the continent’s only lab dedicated to supporting story construction in African documentaries. Alongside directing and editing multiple long-form films each year, he teaches and mentors emerging filmmakers, using both the edit suite and classroom as spaces to guide creative vision, shape narratives, and engage deeply with diverse perspectives.
Khalid is also a member of the South African Guild of Editors and a PhD candidate in visual history at the Centre for Humanities Research at the University of the Western Cape.
Miki Redelinghuys
Location: South Africa
Miki is a documentary filmmaker who believes film has the power to bring positive change. Through Plexus Films she has directed and produced award winning documentaries and factual series such as Keiskamma - A Story of Love, Mystery of the Arctic Cairn, Afrikaaps, Headwrap and Leap of Faith.
Since 2018 she has developed her skills as an impact producer through the research and roll-out of an impact campaign on her film, This Land, with a focus on mining affected communities. This lead her to co-develop the UCT Sunshine Cinema Film Impact short course for which she is program director, she mentors for the Durban Film Mart Access program and collaborates with impact practitioners from South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya under the Climate Story Lab Africa banner to support creative impact campaigns with a climate focus.
In 2018 she initiated the DFA docLOVE screenings in Cape Town, which has grown into a countrywide film screening program aimed at social engagement through film. Mostly, she loves being in the world with a camera, which is why she spent 6 years filming Mother City, currently screening at festivals worldwide and running a social impact campaign.
Mohamed Saïd Ouma
Location: South Africa
Mohamed Said Ouma is a Comorian author, filmmaker-producer, festival manager and programmer dedicated to the development of documentary cinema in Africa and the Indian Ocean.Since 2019, he is the Executive Director of Documentary Africa (DOCA), a pan-African fund that supports the development and production of documentary films led by African filmmakers.
He also leads the market at the International Film Festival of the Indian Ocean (FIFOI), fostering co-productions and regional collaboration. Since 2014, he has been a trainer within the DOC OI program, where he supports filmmakers from island territories in developing their documentary projects. He is also an active voice of professional organizations such as the East African Screen Collective as well as being a Fespaco selection committee member.
His work explores ethics, equity, and storytelling from the Global South.
Mohamed Saïd Ouma
Location: South Africa
Mohamed Said Ouma is a Comorian author, filmmaker-producer, festival manager and programmer dedicated to the development of documentary cinema in Africa and the Indian Ocean.Since 2019, he is the Executive Director of Documentary Africa (DOCA), a pan-African fund that supports the development and production of documentary films led by African filmmakers.
He also leads the market at the International Film Festival of the Indian Ocean (FIFOI), fostering co-productions and regional collaboration. Since 2014, he has been a trainer within the DOC OI program, where he supports filmmakers from island territories in developing their documentary projects. He is also an active voice of professional organizations such as the East African Screen Collective as well as being a Fespaco selection committee member.
His work explores ethics, equity, and storytelling from the Global South.
Steven Markovitz
Location: South Africa
Steven Markovitz has over 30 years' experience in producing and distributing feature films and documentaries. He has worked with over 150 directors from more than 35 African countries on films, some of which have screened at festivals including Cannes, Sundance, Berlin, Toronto and Venice and many other festivals. Films he has produced sold to platforms and broadcasters including Amazon, Netflix, Channel 4, BBC, arte, Vice, Showtime, Canal+, PBS, MNET, SABC, SVT, Al Jazeera, Criterion Channel and have been theatrically released in numerous territories globally including USA, Canada, UK, Russia, Japan, Brazil, Scandinavia, France and Germany and 20 African countries.
He is a founding executive committee member of the Independent Producers’ Organisation of South Africa. He co-founded the Encounters: South African International Documentary Festival (1999) and Electric South (2016) and is a founding board member of DocA (Documentary Africa, 2018). He recently launched the African Producers Accelerator (APA).
Steven has been knighted by the Republic of France and the Government of Burkina Faso for his contribution to African cinema.
He has served on juries and funding selection panels in South Africa, Saudi Arabia, the Netherlands, Morrocco, Germany, Namibia, Jordan, USA, Burkina Faso and Lebanon.
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