Two Africans bear the torch high for the continent after their selection to the jury of the 2023 Tribeca Film Festival, scheduled to hold this week in Manhattan, USA.
Nigerian actress Stephanie Linus and Nigerian-born actor and producer Jimmy Akingbola announced they are jurors in the Documentary Feature and Short Documentary, Student Visionary Competition sections, respectively.
They will be working alongside other notable film stars and entertainers such as Brendan Fraser, Chance the Rapper, and Jeremy O. Harris, among others.
The Tribeca Film Festival is an annual film festival that showcases a diverse selection of films, episodic programming, talks, music, games, art, and immersive programming from across the globe.
Linus gleefully announced her selection on social media, noting the difficult work ahead for all jurors to decide the winners of 15 award categories.
South Africa will feature strongly in the festival, with 19 films billed for screening while also competing in different categories.
The festival hosts over 600 screenings with approximately 150,000 attendees and awards independent artists in 23 juried competitive categories.
Stephanie Linus, who is an award-winning actress and filmmaker, has starred in over 100 films. In 2016, her film Dry won the Africa Magic Viewer’s Choice Awards for Best Nigerian Film.
Jimmy Akingbola is an actor and producer who can currently be seen reprising his role in Peacock's Bel-Air, an acclaimed serialized one-hour dramatic analogue of the '90s sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.
