Film Africa 2025 Returns to London Celebrating African Cinema, Culture and Storytelling

...Ten Days of African Film, Culture, and Dialogue at the British Film Institute

The Royal African Society presents Film Africa 2025, the UK and Europe’s premier festival celebrating African and African diaspora cinema, returning to London from 14–23 November. Over ten days, the festival will showcase over 50 films and special events spanning features, documentaries, and shorts from more than 20 countries, from Morocco to South Africa, Nigeria to the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Highlights include a tribute to the late Malian filmmaker Souleymane Cissé, a BAFTA masterclass with Nigerian director Kunle Afolayan exploring his influence on contemporary Nollywood, and the Symposium: African Cinema and Liberation, featuring a landmark conversation between Sir John Akomfrah and Billy Woodberry on cinema’s power to reclaim agency and resist colonial narratives.

“African cinema is entering a period of tremendous creative expansion. We are seeing bold experimentation in form, genre, and distribution, with filmmakers blending realism, mythology, and futurism in entirely new ways. Film Africa’s role is to support this evolution, not only as a showcase but as a network that connects artists, institutions, and audiences. We aim to foster dialogue, collaboration, and visibility for African filmmakers on a global scale,” said festival curator Keith Shiri.

Opening & Closing Films

Opening Film: My Father’s Shadow (2025, Nigeria/UK) opens Film Africa at BFI Southbank on 14 November. The UK’s Oscar submission for Best International Feature at the 98th Academy Awards, this semi-autobiographical debut by British-Nigerian director Akinola Davies Jr., co-written with his brother Wale Davies, is set during the turbulent 1993 Nigerian election crisis. It follows a father, estranged from his two sons, navigating Lagos amid political unrest. The cast includes Sope Dirisu (Slow Horses, Gangs of London) and real-life brothers Chibuike Marvellous Egbo and Godwin Egbo. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with Akinola Davies Jr.

Closing Film: Katanga: The Dance of the Scorpions (2025, Burkina Faso) closes the festival with its UK premiere at BFI Southbank on 23 November. Reimagining Shakespeare’s Macbeth in an African kingdom, the film follows a general haunted by a prophecy that he will seize the crown or die trying. Shot in black and white, Dani Kouyaté’s adaptation blends Shakespearean drama with West African myth. Kouyaté will join a post-screening Q&A, and the film has already received 10 African Movie Academy Award nominations.

Spotlight on the Democratic Republic of Congo

This year’s festival shines a spotlight on the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), showcasing the nation’s cinematic voice through a mix of features and shorts.

• The Tree of Authenticity (2025, DRC/Belgium) by Sammy Baloji excavates colonial legacies in the Congo Basin through the voices of Paul Panda Farnana, Abiron Beirnaert, and an ancient witness tree. The film explores the ongoing impact of colonialism on people and the environment (Riverside Studios, 15 Nov).

• Of Mud and Blood (2025, DRC/France/Germany) by Jean-Gabriel Leynaud portrays life in Numbi, where miners hand-dig coltan, revealing the human cost of global consumption. A raw, deeply moving documentary, it captures stories of exploitation, endurance, and fragile hope (Riverside Studios, 20 Nov).

• Lobito Bound: A Journey to Africa’s New Frontier (2025, DRC/UK) follows British-Jamaican explorer Dwayne Fields on a 4,000km journey through Angola, Zambia, DRC, and Tanzania, exploring the Lobito Corridor trade route and its environmental, social, and geopolitical impact (Ritzy Picturehouse Brixton, 19 Nov).

Throughout the festival, The Africa Centre will host Congo RE-Vue, a free digital photography exhibition showcasing emerging Congolese photographers redefining how their country is seen.