AFRIFF 2025 Unveils first-ever Landmark Workshop on AI, Cinema & Culture with Toyosi Akerele-Ogunsiji’s Rise Interactive Studios

The Africa International Film Festival (AFRIFF), the continent’s premier celebration of film, storytelling, and creative excellence, in partnership with Rise Interactive Studios, is set to host a groundbreaking full-day AI Workshop and Cultural Dialogue titled “HUMACHINES MAKING FILMS: Africa’s Cinematic Future, Culture & Artificial Intelligence.”

This marks the first-ever AI-focused session in AFRIFF’s 14-year history, underscoring a bold step toward integrating artificial intelligence into Africa’s creative ecosystem.

Africa’s creative economy remains one of the continent’s fastest-growing sectors, yet its engagement with AI technology is still emerging.

The landmark event, scheduled for Tuesday, November 4, 2025, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Twin Waters, Lekki, Lagos, will explore how AI can democratize filmmaking, empower young creators, and position Africa not merely as a consumer of global technology, but as a co-creator of the next cinematic language shaping the world’s storytelling future.

Headlined by Toyosi Akerele-Ogunsiji, founder and CEO of Rise Interactive Studios and Co-Writer, Producer and Executive Producer of Makemation, Africa’s first feature film on Artificial Intelligence, this workshop will explore the power of Artificial Intelligence as a creative partner, not a competitor, in the future of African cinema.

Building on the widespread acclaim and global praise surrounding MAKEMATION, which was recently shown at the Microsoft Research Centre on the sidelines of the 80th United Nations General Assembly in New York in September, the theme, Humachines Making Films will extend the conversation by unpacking how machines are reshaping creative expression, redefining cinematic authorship and demystify how AI is transforming film production from script writing, directing, virtual cinematography to automated editing, visual effects, dubbing and distribution while also unpacking urgent questions around intellectual property, creative ethics, cultural authenticity and the possibilities for African filmmakers to assert cultural sovereignty in the digital age.

“The success of MAKEMATION revealed that Africa is not just a consumer of Artificial Intelligence, we can also be creators, innovators and narrators of our own digital future because with all its sophistication, it was wholly made in Nigeria. This isn’t just about technology; it’s about ownership and the power to define how Africa’s stories in an era of machine intelligence. We want to ensure that African filmmakers, technologists and cultural leaders are equipped to ethically and creatively engage with the technologies that will define the next century of storytelling. This partnership between Rise Interactive Studios and AFRIFF is more than an event, it is a statement, and it symbolizes a deliberate effort to ensure that African creativity evolves alongside, not behind it. This workshop and dialogue will help us shape ethical, culturally grounded and globally competitive frameworks for storytelling in the age of Artificial Intelligence. The question is when technology starts to Dream, who tells Africa’s Story?” said Dr. Toyosi Akerele-Ogunsiji

The Full Day Workshop will feature keynote presentations, live demonstrations of AI filmmaking tools, interactive breakout labs and a fireside conversation.

Participants will gain hands-on experience in AI-assisted film creation and contribute to an open dialogue about the ethics, aesthetics and ownership of machine-made art in Africa.

As Artificial Intelligence is rapidly changing the global film industry, editing scenes and even generating actors, Africa stands on the brink of a cultural and creative revolution, this year’s AFRIFF which also includes Nigeria’s first ever Film and Content Market, provides the ideal backdrop for this AI Workshop, which promises to blend cinema, culture, and computation in an immersive, day-long learning and networking experience.

Not designed to be just another talk shop, the expected outcomes from the AI workshop include clear pathways for collaboration between the creative industry and AI ecosystem, policy and advocacy insights to safeguard Africa’s creative IP in the age of automation and the empowerment of a new generation of African storytellers inspired to innovate responsibly with technology.

Chioma Ude, AFRIFF founder and executive director, told journalists that through the years, the Festival, through screenings, workshops, masterclasses and industry dialogues has championed African voices and facilitated collaborations and that this AI themed cultural dialogue and workshop curated by Rise Interactive Studios, the dynamic company that created and produced the Continent’s first feature film on AI, is testament to AFRIFF’s recognition of an era in which we must design ways through which intelligent systems will shape African cinema and what that means for the continent’s creative and technological communities.

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