Great Lakes Producers Lab Names 2026 Class of 13 Film Producers
The Great Lakes Creative Producers Lab has announced its 2026 selection: 13 producers with fiction or documentary features in development, plus two observers. The group meets for a week in Kigali, Rwanda, from October 26 to 30.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the participants come from Sudan, Uganda, Kenya, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, Ethiopia and Rwanda. Eight of the 13 work on fiction features. The other five make documentaries.
Among the fiction producers are Yasir Faiz of Sudan, Emmanuel Gashumba of Uganda, Jean-Merci Namegabe of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Lilian Sundqvist of Tanzania. The documentary producers include Phyllis Irungu of Kenya, Noura Adil of Sudan, Danny Amisi Bishikwabo of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Inès Girihirwe of Rwanda.
This year also brings a first. The lab has added observing producers, people who attend without a project of their own. Their aim is long-term career growth rather than a single film. The two observers are Fiston Mudacumura of MEB CBC and Fanny Muhorakeye of Imirera Productions, both based in Rwanda.
Participants will work through workshops, one-on-one mentoring and peer sessions. The programme focuses on the creative, leadership and practical skills needed to develop, finance and deliver films. Its stated goal is films that can compete internationally while staying rooted in local voices.
A producer is the person who puts a film together. They find the money, hire the team, and carry the project from first idea to finished picture. Much of that work happens in meetings, budgets and deal talks, which is why the lab pairs its participants with people who have done it before.
Four industry figures are working with this year's group. Themba Bhebhe led diversity and inclusion at the Berlinale's European Film Market from 2017 to 2024, after a decade in international sales. Tiny Mungwe is a South African producer and programmer who made the pan-African anthology Generation Africa and sits on the artistic team of Locarno Open Doors. Perivi Katjavivi is a Namibian writer, director and producer who runs Old Location Films. His feature Under the Hanging Tree premiered at the International Film Festival Rotterdam and became Namibia's first international Oscar submission. Neigeme Glasgow-Maeda is the first Trinidadian producer to have a film selected at Cannes. She founded NGM Productions, based in Luxembourg.
Juliana Kabua is one of the founders of Great Lakes. The lab describes its aim as building the professional foundations of the African film sector, and it says it helps producers take character-driven stories from development through to delivery.
What makes the lab worth watching is the timing of its work. A film that starts in a workshop in Kigali can take years to reach a festival or a cinema. Each of these 15 people now has a fresh set of contacts and a week of feedback to carry into that long process.
