Author | Lightnews

Tambay Obenson

@tambay.bsky.social

1.8K followers 17 following 140 posts

Founded Shadow & Act LLC, 2009. Sold to Blavity Inc, 2017. Staff writer at IndieWire 2018-2022. Now building akoroko.com. WE'RE FUNDRAISING: http://bit.ly/akoroko

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Tambay Obenson @tambay.bsky.social · 17d

Been quite a year for me and the platforms I'm building. But 2025 is not done with me yet. Next: honored to have been invited to speak at the University of Cambridge during a symposium organized around the 60th anniversary of Ousmane Sembène’s landmark film. Details: crassh.cam.ac.uk/events/47520/

Tambay Obenson @tambay.bsky.social · Sep 24

Good company... #SanSebastianFilmFestival

Tambay Obenson @tambay.bsky.social · Sep 24

Old Town, San Sebastián...

Tambay Obenson @tambay.bsky.social · Sep 24

#SanSebastianFilmFestival

Tambay Obenson @tambay.bsky.social · Sep 23

#Couture intro #SanSebastián

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Tambay Obenson @tambay.bsky.social · Sep 23

San Sebastián 2025 #SSIFF

Tambay Obenson @tambay.bsky.social · Sep 18

MY FATHER'S SHADOW comes home, opening in Nigerian cinemas on Sept 19. I was at the Cannes premiere. My review of the film (among this year's most popular subscriber newsletters) is online. Read for FREE: A Son’s Reconstruction of a Father Lost to Lagos and History — akoroko.com/my-fathers-s...

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Tambay Obenson @tambay.bsky.social · Sep 18

Does Trump continue unabated? Apparently. The pattern: push a boundary; meet little meaningful resistance; normalize it. Republicans do nothing; Democrats can’t or won’t; and what was unthinkable yesterday, is a precedent tomorrow. There's no scenario where that cycle ends well for anyone...

The New York Times @nytimes.com · Sep 17

ABC announced that it was pulling Jimmy Kimmel’s late night show “indefinitely” after his comments about Charlie Kirk’s death. nyti.ms/46vgZl3

Jimmy Kimmel is pictured in a black suit and blue striped tie. Headline reads: "ABC Pulls Jimmy Kimmel Off Air for Charlie Kirk Comments." Photo credit: Tommaso Boddi/Getty Images.

Tambay Obenson @tambay.bsky.social · Sep 16

What happened when 11 Nigerian filmmakers explored the national audiovisual archive and produced new shorts, linking past moving images to present-day discourse on identity and politics...? akoroko.com/nigerian-fil...

Tambay Obenson @tambay.bsky.social · Aug 30

... Level up....

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Tambay Obenson @tambay.bsky.social · Aug 29

Much thanks to OkayAfrica for the piece 🙌🏾 www.okayafrica.com/how-african-...

Tambay Obenson @tambay.bsky.social · Aug 27

Africa at Venice 2025 → the largest footprint in the festival’s history: 25+ projects across Competition, Critics’ Week, Venice Days, Biennale College, Final Cut, Gap-Financing, Book Adaptation.

Festival runs Aug 27–Sept 6.

Subscribe for full breakdown and analysis: akoroko.com/localpricing/

Tambay Obenson @tambay.bsky.social · Aug 26

News on the March! deadline.com/2025/08/pan-...

Tambay Obenson @tambay.bsky.social · Aug 23

August 22, 2025, Unseen Nairobi, African Film Press (AFP)—a pan-African alliance that includes Akoroko, Sinema Focus, and What Kept Me Up—held its first public-facing gathering.

It was the beginning of a series of intimate gatherings we plan to hold across the continent. Up next, Lagos, Nigeria.

Tambay Obenson @tambay.bsky.social · Aug 20

mookh.com/event/africa...

Tambay Obenson @tambay.bsky.social · Aug 18

Tambay Obenson @tambay.bsky.social · Aug 16

Part 2: African Film Press (AFP) takes baby steps into distribution...

Tambay Obenson @tambay.bsky.social · Aug 16

Honored to have been invited to present a paper during this University of Cambridge symposium in November, organized around the 60th anniversary of Sembène’s seminal work "La Noire de..." Deets on the conference, which is titled "La Noire de... at 60" 👉🏾 www.crassh.cam.ac.uk/events/47520/

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Tambay Obenson @tambay.bsky.social · Aug 15

The time has come... 🙏🏾

Tambay Obenson @tambay.bsky.social · Aug 3

The Akoroko project tracking database now holds 300+ African and diaspora feature films in development, captured since 2022. Premium subscribers received a snapshot as of July 2025. It’s a glimpse into a growing pipeline of African feature films at various stages: akoroko.com/tracking-afr...

Tambay Obenson @tambay.bsky.social · Jul 28

Rethinking African Press Strategy: Legitimacy, Leverage, and Local Control akoroko.com/african-pres...

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Tambay Obenson @tambay.bsky.social · Jul 27

Rethinking African Press Strategy: Legitimacy, Leverage, Control

African screen industry professionals have normalized prioritizing Western media as default for industry news, while African press is marginalized.

Dispatched to Premium subscribers in March. FREE read: akoroko.com/african-pres...

Tambay Obenson @tambay.bsky.social · Jul 25

Akoroko is a strategic partner in the 2025 AfroCreatives WikiProject+film Edit-a-thon, an initiative led by The Africa Narrative in partnership with the Wikimedia Foundation to enhance the documentation, citation, and visibility of African film and television online: akoroko.com/wikipedia-ed...

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