If you are a Nigerian filmmaker between the ages of 20 and 35, and you have a story about Africa’s transformation that you have been looking for a reason to tell, this is that reason.
The Africa Films for Impact Festival, in partnership with the Delegation of the European Union to Nigeria and ECOWAS, has launched the European Union Short Film Competition 2026, calling on young Nigerian filmmakers to make a short film of no more than three minutes on the theme Reimagine Africa: Storytelling for Transformation. The winner will take home ₦1 million. The 1st Runner Up receives ₦500,000, and the 2nd Runner Up receives ₦300,000. Entries close on 7th October 2026, and the Grand Finale and Awards Night holds on 29th October 2026 at the Africa Films for Impact Festival in Abuja.
This is not the first time the European Union has partnered with Nigerian film festivals on a competition of this kind. The EU has previously collaborated with the Zuma International Film Festival and the Eastern Nigeria International Film Festival on similar short film competitions in past years, each time offering cash prizes of ₦1 million to the winner and bringing emerging filmmakers onto the stage of an established festival to screen their work and connect with industry professionals. The 2026 edition brings that same model into partnership with the Africa Films for Impact Festival, which has been running since 2020 as a continental platform dedicated to films and conversations that address social change themes across democracy, human rights, gender equity, climate change, peace and security, and digital rights. The 2025 edition of the festival, which concluded in Abuja in November, recognised Nigerian filmmakers including Steve Gukas, Chris Odeh, Biodun Stephen, and Uchenna Mbunabo with special recognition awards, and featured international films from the UK, USA, and Nigeria among its winners.
The 2026 competition is curated by High Definition Film Academy and is open to Nigerian youth between 20 and 35 years of age. Films must be original works created by the applicant, must not exceed three minutes in length, and must speak directly to the theme of Reimagine Africa: Storytelling for Transformation. The film can be narrative, documentary, or experimental in style, but must be original, authentic, and engaging.
For emerging Nigerian filmmakers who have been looking for a structured entry point into the festival circuit, a competition backed by both the European Union and an established Nigerian festival, with a cash prize and a platform at the Grand Finale in Abuja, is exactly the kind of opportunity that can change the direction of a career. Three minutes is a tight canvas, but some of the most powerful films ever made have been short ones, and the constraint of that format is often what forces a filmmaker to find the clearest version of what they are trying to say.
