We are pleased to present the December 2025 issue of the Journal of African Film & Diaspora Studies, featuring thirteen compelling articles that traverse the complex landscape of African media, cultural production, and social transformation. This issue exemplifies our commitment to showcasing rigorous scholarship that interrogates the intersections of film, media, culture, communications, digital technologies, and diaspora experiences across the African continent and beyond. Our opening article examines utopianism in the film Queen of Katwe, exploring how spatial dislocation and integration into global chess networks inspire new imaginings of life beyond Uganda's townships. This theme of transformation through cultural production resonates throughout the issue, particularly in our exploration of Yoruba-language films and their role in cultural preservation, where mystical powers emerge as both a narrative device and a cultural archive.