NDIVA Women's Film Festival debuted in June 2017 in Accra, focusing on African and African diaspora films. The venues were Alliance Française D'Accra and Terra Alta. Films from various African nations were showcased over three days, with post-screening conversations, panel discussions, and a master class. The festival commenced with the Senegalese film "Saagar" and concluded with "Keteke" from Ghana. In 2018, the festival was opened to the rest of the world. In 2018, NWFF returned for another three-day event at the Alliance Française, graced by the presence of the then-French Ambassador to Ghana, H.E. Anne Sophie Avé. The opening film, "The Life of Esteban," was directed by Ines Eshun, a Belgian filmmaker of Ghanaian heritage. The festival closed with "Potato Potahto" by ace Ghanaian filmmaker Shirley Frimpong Manso.

NWFF 2019 followed suit with a three-day program, opening with "Many Loves", a film from Ethiopia and closing with "Side Chic Gang" from Ghana.

NDIVA WOMEN'S FILM FESTIVAL'S MANDATE IS TO;   

• Honour films and filmmakers that present the world as women experience it.

• Inspire curiosity, educate, entertain, and stimulate conversations through film screenings.

• Deliver programs to help develop the next generation of Women Filmmakers.

• Create a platform for Advocacy for women and inspire filmmakers and audiences to take action with this knowledge.    

• Create a market space for women filmmakers.

There are NO ENTRY FEES charged for participating or attending the NWFF. This is primarily to make women's films accessible to audiences in this part of the world and to encourage continuous audience participation and attendance.

ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE FESTIVAL

Our first key achievement has been giving visibility to work by, for and about women in the film space. All women filmmakers in the film production chain get representation. Women's involvement in the film industry is underrated, misrepresented and unacknowledged. Hence, creating a space for them to be seen, heard and acknowledged is crucial.

Women filmmakers are mostly independent filmmakers. Over the years, research has shown that most women filmmakers work for themselves. This also means that film, beyond being a functional art form, is also a livelihood. When a film screens at a festival, the filmmakers and their films get more mileage and new job opportunities for funding a new project. At film festivals, there is always press coverage and sales interest, which all translates to money, economic freedom, and empowerment for women. A film, whether shown at a big or small festival, makes a massive difference because the visibility offered by a film festival is hugely important.

The NWFF is a platform for Advocacy. The film space, in all its glamour, can be a hostile place for women. Creating the space for women to tell their stories or for women's stories to be told is another form of Advocacy. Women artists are always on an advocacy mission, overtly or subtly. Because of the element of realism in film, people do not need a high school certificate to understand the films they watch. Film is a universal language.