By ForKulture Team • November 6, 2026
In African cinema, film and media distribution remains an ongoing challenge, but Esther Olowookere, a Nigerian actor and filmmaker, saw an opportunity to make distribution accessible, especially for short filmmakers. Passionate about creating opportunities for African stories to be seen, valued, and supported, the Nigerian actor responded to the challenge with AFRISHORTS, a newly launched streaming and distribution platform built specifically for African short films. The platform allows filmmakers to upload their films, distribute them to a global audience and earn from them, all while maintaining ownership of their work, giving audiences a dedicated space to discover and enjoy African short films. With AFRISHORTS, Esther aims to build a sustainable, creator-first ecosystem where great short films can reach the audiences they deserve. In this exclusive interview with ForKulture Magazine, the filmmaker opens up about building AFRISHORTS, the conceptualisation behind the project, her personal experience with distribution as a filmmaker and what she is ultimately building with the platform for filmmakers like herself. FK: Before you decided to build AfriShorts, what problem were you repeatedly encountering as a filmmaker that made you decide that something needed to change? As a filmmaker, one problem I kept encountering was what happened to a short film after it was made. Creating the film was only part of the journey, but finding the right audience and a sustainable way to distribute and earn from the work was much harder. I noticed that many African short films were being shared mainly on social media or submitted to festivals, but there was no dedicated platform where audiences could consistently discover African short films and where filmmakers could showcase their work beyond their immediate networks. I experienced this challenge myself. I made a short film, got people to watch it, and saw that there was interest in the story, but turning that attention into sustainable value for the filmmaker was difficult. That made me realise there was a gap that needed to be addressed. I wanted to build something that gives African short films a dedicated home, one that connects filmmakers with audiences while creating a clearer pathway for visibility, distribution, and monetisation. Esther opens up about building AFRISHORTS, her personal experience with distribution as a filmmaker and what she is ultimately building with the platform for filmmakers like herself.. FK: What did the journey of making and trying to distribute your work reveal to you about the gaps in Africa’s film ecosystem? It showed me that the challenge for many African filmmakers doesn’t end when a film is completed. There is a significant gap between creating a good short film and getting it in front of the right audience. I realised that short films often have fewer dedicated distribution opportunities compared with feature films, and many independent filmmakers have to rely heavily on social media, personal networks, or festivals to get their work seen. Even when a film receives attention, turning that visibility into sustainable income can be difficult. It also showed me that there are many talented filmmakers creating compelling African stories, but discovery is fragmented. Audiences who want to watch these stories may not always know where to find them, while filmmakers may struggle to reach audiences beyond their immediate communities. That experience helped shape AFRISHORTS: a dedicated space where African short films can be discovered, watched, distributed, and create value for the filmmakers behind them. FK: What do you think we are potentially losing culturally when short films, especially from emerging filmmakers, struggle to reach audiences? When short films, especially those made by emerging filmmakers, struggle to reach audiences, we risk losing more than just individual films; we risk losing perspectives, experiences, and parts of our cultural record. Short films often capture the everyday realities, languages, traditions, humour, struggles, relationships, and changing identities of people in ways that larger productions may not always explore. Emerging filmmakers also bring perspectives that may not yet have a place within mainstream cinema. When these stories remain unseen, audiences miss the opportunity to discover different ways of experiencing and understanding Africa. Over time, some of these stories, ideas, and cultural nuances can become difficult to preserve or pass on. For me, supporting short films is therefore also about making sure there is room for more African voices to document, interpret, and contribute to the stories we tell about ourselves. FK: What do you think you're building with AfriShorts and what do you want this platform to make possible for independent filmmakers that is currently difficult to achieve? With AFRISHORTS, I’m building more than a streaming platform. I’m building a dedicated ecosystem for African short films, one where independent filmmakers can have a clear path from creating a film to finding an audience and generating revenue from their work, all while retaining ownership. Today, many independent filmmakers can make a film but still struggle with what comes next: getting discovered outside their personal networks, finding consistent distribution, reaching audiences beyond their immediate communities, and turning their work into sustainable income. I want AFRISHORTS to make those things more accessible. I want a filmmaker to be able to upload a short film, have it discovered by audiences across Africa and beyond, build an audience around their work, and have an opportunity to earn from the people watching it. Ultimately, I want to help create an environment where a filmmaker doesn’t have to wait for a major production company, festival selection, or a large social media following before their work can find an audience. A great short film should have a place to be seen, and the filmmaker behind it should have a chance to benefit from that attention. FK: How are you thinking about sustainability and revenue, particularly in creating a model that rewards short filmmakers financially for their hard work? We’re building AFRISHORTS around a subscription model designed to create a sustainable business while ensuring that filmmakers directly benefit from the value their work generates. Viewers pay a monthly subscription to access the platform. 60% of AFRISHORTS’ monthly subscription revenue goes into a Creator Pool, while the remaining 40% supports the operation and growth of the platform. This allows us to reinvest in the technology, streaming infrastructure, marketing, payment processing, content operations, and other costs required to keep the platform running and growing. For filmmakers, there is a 1,000-watch-minute monthly eligibility threshold. Once a film reaches that threshold, it becomes eligible for a share of the Creator Pool. Each eligible film’s share is determined by its proportion of the total eligible watch time on the platform for that month. This creates a model where revenue is connected to audience engagement. We’re not asking filmmakers to simply give us their films for exposure; we want the platform to create a pathway where filmmakers can benefit financially when audiences are actively watching their work. As AFRISHORTS grows its subscriber base, the overall subscription revenue can grow, which increases the Creator Pool while also providing more resources to improve the platform and reach more audiences. The goal is to create a sustainable cycle where more viewers support the platform, more filmmakers can benefit from it, and the platform has the resources to continue growing. FK: If distribution is one of the biggest barriers facing independent filmmakers, what else do you think needs to change alongside the emergence of platforms like yours? I think distribution is only one part of the problem. Platforms like AFRISHORTS can create more access to audiences, but the wider ecosystem also needs to become more supportive of independent filmmakers. First, there’s a need for more funding and affordable financing for filmmakers, especially at the early stages. Many independent creators have the talent and ideas but lack the resources to produce consistently. There’s also a need for more professional support around distribution, marketing, legal rights, and business development. A filmmaker should not have to figure out every part of the industry alone simply because they are independent. I also think audience culture needs to evolve. African audiences should have more opportunities to discover and intentionally support independent African films, rather than only encountering them when they happen to go viral or appear on major platforms or festivals. Community is another important piece. We want AFRISHORTS to help create a community around African short films, not just a platform where people upload and watch content. That means creating opportunities for filmmakers to discover one another, share experiences, build relationships, and connect with audiences who genuinely care about their work. Over time, that community can create collaboration, mentorship, feedback, and new opportunities. Finally, there’s a need for stronger connections between filmmakers, platforms, festivals, investors, production companies, and other industry stakeholders. More collaboration can create opportunities for emerging filmmakers to grow beyond a single film. AFRISHORTS is one piece of that larger picture. We want to contribute by solving the distribution and discovery gap while also building a community and, over time, creating more opportunities for independent African filmmakers to access funding, develop their work, connect with others, and be seen, supported, and rewarded for what they create. Esther is an actor, filmmaker and Nigerian creative. FK: What does the current treatment of short films say about how the African film industry defines commercial value and cinematic success? I think the way short films are currently treated says a lot about how we define commercial value and cinematic success in the African film industry. There’s often an assumption that for a film to be commercially valuable or successful, it needs to be a feature film, have a big budget, attract a large audience, or be picked up by a major streaming platform. Short films, especially those from emerging filmmakers, can sometimes be viewed as stepping stones rather than valuable works in their own right. But I don’t think the length of a film should determine its value. A 10-minute film can tell a powerful story, introduce a new filmmaker, preserve a cultural experience, or reach an audience in a meaningful way. I think we need to broaden our understanding of what cinematic success can look like. For an independent filmmaker, success could mean getting their film seen by the right audience, building an audience around their work, creating opportunities from that visibility, and ultimately earning from their creativity. That is part of what we want AFRISHORTS to contribute to. We want short films to be seen not as lesser forms of filmmaking, but as a format with its own artistic, cultural, and commercial value. If a filmmaker can create something meaningful in 10, 15, or 30 minutes, there should be a system that allows that work to be discovered, appreciated, and rewarded. FK: What would you like producers, investors, festivals, critics and audiences to understand about short films that they perhaps don't know? I would like producers, investors, festivals, critics, and audiences to understand that a short film is not necessarily a smaller idea or a less valuable piece of filmmaking simply because it has a shorter runtime. Short films can be where new filmmakers experiment, develop their voices, take creative risks, and tell stories that may not require two hours to tell. They can also introduce audiences to perspectives, communities, and experiences that might otherwise remain unseen. For producers and investors, I think there is an opportunity to look at short films as more than just a training ground for future feature filmmakers. They can be valuable creative works and can also be a way to discover new talent before that talent becomes widely known. For festivals and critics, I would like short films to be given the same seriousness in terms of the quality of their storytelling and filmmaking, rather than being treated simply as something smaller than a feature. And for audiences, I’d like them to see short films as complete experiences. A film does not have to be long to be memorable, culturally significant, entertaining, or worth paying for. Ultimately, I want people to understand that short films deserve an ecosystem of their own—one where they can be discovered, discussed, supported, distributed, and monetised. That is one of the things we’re trying to build with AFRISHORTS. FK: Ultimately, are you building a platform for short films or are you trying to change the way African cinema discovers, values and circulates stories; why and why not? Ultimately, I believe we’re building both: a platform for African short films and a new pathway for how those films and filmmakers are discovered, supported, and valued. AFRISHORTS is the platform where audiences can watch African short films, and filmmakers can distribute their work, build audiences, and earn from it. But I don’t think a platform alone solves the problem we’re trying to address. The reason is that the challenge isn’t simply that filmmakers don’t have somewhere to upload their films. It’s that many independent filmmakers struggle to get discovered, reach audiences beyond their personal networks, build a community, generate income from their work, and find opportunities to keep creating. That’s why the bigger vision matters. We want AFRISHORTS to help change what happens around the film, how emerging talent is discovered, how audiences find independent African stories, how filmmakers connect, and how a successful film can lead to more opportunities for the person who made it. For me, this is personal because I’ve experienced what it means to make a film and then struggle with what comes next. I know there are filmmakers creating incredible work who simply don’t have enough opportunities to reach audiences or build something sustainable from it. So, we’re not building beyond the platform just for the sake of being bigger. We’re doing it because the platform is a tool for solving a larger problem. The platform is what we’re building today. The bigger goal is to create more opportunities for African stories and the people telling them. P.S. —This interview has been edited for clarity.
For me, this is personal because I’ve experienced what it means to make a film and then struggle with what comes next.