Top 5 influential African filmmakers you need to know

Tsitsi Dangarembga

A gig as a copywriter for a marketing agency is what propelled Tsitsi Dangarembga to begin writing plays, which eventually turned into 20-plus year career for the filmmaker and author.

Success came early for Dangarembga at the age of 25 when she wrote her novel “Nervous Conditions” a book that has since landed on BBC’s “100 Books that Have Shaped the World.” But rather than focus on writing books, she decided to gear towards film instead and attended the German Film and Television Academy in Berlin.

“Everyone’s Child” is considered one of her most accoladed films. It was shown across the globe and premiered at the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival.

Dangarembga says her passion for film stems partially from her upbringing in Zimbabwe. “Zimbabwean society is a very secretive society. This means the real problems are rarely discussed in the open with the idea of finding solutions,” she told Open Democracy. “Our idea is to bring these issues to the public attention through film.”