Cape Town has become the capital of Africa’s creative industries this week. Since Wednesday, October 28, and until Sunday, November 1, the Cape Town International Convention Centre is hosting FAME Week Africa, a platform that brings together professionals from film, television, animation, music, fashion and digital content. Backed by the City of Cape Town, the event is less a festival than a marketplace, where African stories go looking for funders and distributors.
At the heart of the event is MIP Africa, billed as the continent’s leading market for content acquisition and co-production, running from October 28 to 30. Producers, broadcasters, streaming platforms, distributors and investors negotiate rights and partnerships there. One initiative stands out in particular: producers selected in advance are pitching their drama series projects to a panel of decision-makers from MultiChoice, CANAL+ and StudioCanal, in the hope of landing a commission.
Fashion opened proceedings on Wednesday with the African Fashion Forum, designed to bring clothing designers closer to the worlds of film, television and music. Cinema will then take centre stage with the FAME Shorts Film Festival, dedicated to short films, from October 30 to November 1.
The big new addition for 2026 is Music Week. From October 28 to 31, this new event brings three music industry gatherings together under one banner, with a single ticket. It opened with Muziki Africa, FAME Week Africa’s own music conference, and also hosts Music Exchange, a Cape Town conference now in its sixteenth year that focuses on helping artists build professional careers. The organisers aim to give African music, which is booming on global platforms, a space to discuss contracts, rights and sustainable careers.
France is the guest of honour for this edition. French diplomatic representatives in South Africa see it as an opportunity to build lasting partnerships with the continent’s creative industries. For African creatives, that status could open doors to European platforms and investors, at a time when the French-speaking market is hungry for new content.
The City of Cape Town, which hosts the event, is pursuing a clear economic strategy: supporting creatives to boost local business and jobs, while positioning the city as a hub for Africa’s creative economy. This ambition builds on the previous edition, which marked a shift towards business models able to scale and compete internationally.
By Sunday, the contracts signed and co-productions announced will show whether FAME Week Africa delivers on its promise: making African stories not just a source of pride, but a genuine economic engine.
