As Showmax shuts down in Africa – and Amazon Prime Video steps back from African originals while a few other big streamers never really showed up – it's clear that the chapter of big foreign platforms offering big funding is over. The exciting part is what’s replacing it: Afreximbank’s new US$1 billion Africa Film Fund and the Next Narrative Africa Fund are bringing serious, Africa‑focused money to the table, and this session brings global and African producers, writers and platform builders with global distributors, sales agents and fund managers into one room and starts with an important question: what does a truly bankable, African‑owned slate look like now, and how do we leave with a clear checklist and a few concrete collaborations instead of just another good conversation - and what infrastructure (from post‑production to payments and data) needs to sit underneath it? This session treats that shift not as a crisis, but as a design challenge: how do we deploy this capital to build African‑owned IP, integrated value chains, and territory‑by‑territory distribution – instead of recreating extractive models?

Panelists:

• Mr. Cameron Bailey, CEO, Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF)
• Ms. Akunna Cook, Founder & CEO, Next Narrative Africa Fund
• Ms. Wanuri Kahiu, Film Director, Producer & Co‑founder, AFROBUBBLEGUM
• Ms. Lavaille Lavette, Managing Partner, One Street Studios, and CEO, Pan African Fund

Moderator: Mr. Josh Wilson, Managing Director, TIME Africa