Pan-African production outfit Yetu (Un)Limited is set to present its inaugural slate of films, including projects from Senegalese filmmakers Awa Moctar Gueye and Joseph Gaï Ramaka, to prospective partners at the European Film Market this week.
The projects being pitched at the Berlinale Co-Production Market includes Awa Moctar Gueye’s feature debut, Safara, and Joseph Gaï Ramaka’s latest film, Black Battle With Dogs.
Awa Moctar Gueye’s Safara tells the story of a 15-year-old girl who discovers a murdered woman in her neighborhood in Dakar. It follows the mysterious signs to uncover the truth about the suspected killers.
Joseph Gaï Ramaka’s Black Battle With Dogs is a tragic, enchanted tale of colonial passions, and the affections of women and men on a night at the brink of change. It was adapted from the French play written by Bernard Marie Koltès.
Also, Days of the Dog, the sophomore film from US director Madeleine Hunt-Ehrlich is among the projects to be pitched at the film market. The film follows a reserved Black American woman who navigates isolation in a new city and forms a complex connection with a mysterious artist.
Founded in 2024 by Melissa Adeyemo, Chloe Ortolé, Carol Kioko, Yanis Gaye, and Ike Yemoh, Yetu (Un)Limited, was launched with African projects in mind. The group says their goal is to develop films and a distribution system.
“We’re in this new phase in film distribution and exhibition where there’s so many new audiences that the traditional market has not chosen to pay attention to and access,” Adeyemo said. “When you’re dealing with African or African diasporic content, the audiences are much wider than we have been giving them credit for.”
Adeyemo added: “Oftentimes, when you go to a space like EAVE [European Audiovisual Entrepreneurs] as an African producer, you’re constantly being reminded of how you should be connecting outside of the continent. For us, it became more important to be connecting and figuring out ways to work with each other.”
Yetu (Un)Limited is also set to play a role in strengthening Africa’s cinemas, following a partnership with the Locarno Film Festival‘s Open Doors program last year. The four-year initiative aims to boost the presence of African filmmakers internationally, with Yetu’s Yanis Gaye serving as head of studies, leading a team of industry professionals with deep roots in African cinema.
