Rafiki a 2018 Kenyan film about a romance between two young women was banned by the Kenya Film Classification Board “due to its homosexual theme”. The film's director, Wanuri Kahiu, sued the government, and won, to allow the film to be screened and eligible to be submitted as Kenya's entry for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
Tug of War, set in the 1950s during the final years of British colonial Zanzibar is Tanzania’s 2022 Oscar entry for Best International Feature Film. It is its 2nd ever entry and its first in 21 years.
Djibouti-Canadian film director and screenwriter Lula Ali Ismaïl is the first woman from Djibouti to produce a film, the 2011 short Laan (Friends), earning her the nickname of "the first lady of the Djibouti cinema”. Her 2018 drama, Dhalinyaro (Youth), was also the first feature film in Djibouti cinema history.
Zimbabwean make-up artist Trefor Proud became the first African to win the Oscar in 2020 for Best Makeup and Hairstyling for the movie Topsy-Turvey.