NBO Film Festival has announced its 2026 winners at Nairobi’s Prestige Cinema following a 10-day programme that awarded six industry prizes to four film projects.
The awards matter to Kenya’s film industry because they support projects across development, production, post-production and distribution.
“Cinema for Us means giving African films a place in our public life,” said festival co-founder and artistic director Mbithi Masya.
The organisers said the seventh edition introduced three dedicated juried competitions and screened 53 films across multiple Nairobi venues.
The programme added a downtown screening venue and expanded its industry activities to three days.
Tithes and Offerings received three of the six industry prizes awarded through the NBO Project Showcase.
The fiction feature won the Bigger Motion Distribution Award for fiction, the Same But Different Development Award and the Kenya Grips and Sparks Production Award.
Tony Koros wrote and directed the project while Tony Kamau and Louise Kamwangi produced it.
Second Term received the Africa Post Office Post Production Award.
Joan Njeri and Karanja Ng’endo directed the documentary while Njeri also produced it.
Amebakisha won the Bigger Motion Distribution Award for non-fiction.
Valentine Zikki directed the documentary and Eddah Kiruhi produced it.
The NBO Film Festival Development Award went to The One with the Tempered Flower.
Neema Ngelime directed the documentary and Ivy Kiru produced it.
The release did not disclose the monetary value or specific support attached to the six industry awards.
Rwandan film Ben’Imana won the Fiction Feature Jury Prize under director Marie-Clémentine Dusabejambo.
The jury praised its examination of the legacy of the genocide against the Tutsi.
Lady received a Special Commendation for director Olive Nwosu’s artistic risk-taking.
The Women Who Poked the Leopard won the inaugural Nick Wambugu Documentary Award under director Patience Nitumwesiga.
The award honours the late Kenyan documentary filmmaker Nick Wambugu.
Crocodile received a Special Mention for the work of directors The Critics and Pietra Brettkelly.
God Sleeps on Sunday won the Short Film Jury Prize under director Naishe Nyamubaya.
The jury also awarded a Special Mention to Gift Kyansimire Oroni’s The Big Sad Nairobi 2 and recognised its use of animation.
The festival posthumously awarded its Vanguard Prize to Yahya Chavanga for his contribution to East African film production over more than three decades.
Chavanga worked as a location manager, assistant director and actor.
Senegalese filmmaker Alain Gomis attended the festival’s first filmmaker retrospective and delivered a masterclass with support from European Union National Institutes for Culture.
NBO Industry Days ran from 21 to 23 Oct 2026 and addressed financing, distribution, safer sets, intimacy coordination and post-production.
Founded in 2017, NBO Film Festival is a Nairobi-based platform that develops audiences for Kenyan, African and international films.