The Joburg Film Festival (JFF) has unveiled its 2026 Official Selection, revealing a bold mix of local, diaspora and international films that will compete for the festival’s highest honours under the theme ‘Feel the Frame’.
Powered by MultiChoice Group, a CANAL+ company, In Competition at JFF represents the festival’s most prestigious slate, films formally selected to be judged for artistic excellence, storytelling, craft and innovation. Winners will be announced at a gala awards ceremony at Theatre on the Square on 7 March 2026.
Image: Warren Masemola in Kabelo
This year’s competition includes 12 fiction features, 3 documentaries, 9 short films and 3 student shorts, all vying for coveted Nguni Horns for the best Film, African Film, Cinematography, Editing, Documentary, Short Film, Student Film and Special Recognition awards.
A Jury with Global Authority
Deciding the winners is an internationally respected jury whose collective experience spans Sundance, Berlin, Venice, Toronto and beyond. The panel includes acclaimed producer Cait Pansegrouw, whose work includes This Is Not a Burial, It’s a Resurrection and Inxeba (The Wound); SAFTA-winning producer Bongiwe Selane (Happiness Is a Four-Letter Word); and international producer Sia Stewart, whose credits span Netflix, Hulu, ESPN+ and Discovery Channel.
Image left to right: Cait Pansegrouw, Bongiwe Selane and Sia Stewart
They are joined by filmmaker and Septimius Awards founder Jan-Willem Breure; Berlin International Film Festival curator and World Cinema Fund jury member Dorothee Wenner; and programmer Keith Shiri, founder of Africa at the Pictures and former advisor to Focus Features’ Africa First Programme.
Image Left to Right: Dorothee Wenner, Jan-Willem Breure and Keith Shiri
These jurors bring deep global insight and a shared sensitivity to craft,” says JFF founder Tim Mangwedi. “The films in competition this year are ambitious, emotionally resonant and technically assured – exactly what JFF stands for.”
Films That Feel the Frame
Among the fiction highlights is Kabelo, directed by Carl Houston McMillan, an adventure-drama set in the mountains of Lesotho where a chance partnership between a fugitive and a shepherd evolves into a meditation on freedom, identity and belonging. Starring Lebohang Ntsane and Warren Masemola, the film folds language, landscape and movement into its storytelling.
Diaspora cinema takes a tender turn in Dreamers, Joy Gharoro-Akpojotor’s semi-autobiographical queer romance following two Nigerian asylum seekers in Britain. Described by The Guardian as “emotionally vivid”, the film explores love, hope and bureaucracy with rare intimacy.
Power, music and silence collide in Broken Voices, Ondřej Provazník’s quietly devastating period drama about abuse within a prestigious girls’ choir. The film’s careful use of sound and restraint earned it Film of the Year at the Czech Film Critics’ Awards.
Historical drama Under the Same Sun brings together characters from Spain, China and Haiti in 19th-century Hispaniola, weaving themes of colonialism, solidarity and survival into what Cinema Tropical calls “an evocative portrait of the Caribbean during colonial rule.”
Official Selections: Films In Competition
Fiction Features
1. Broken Voices
2. Dreamers
3. Kabelo
4. Nomad Shadow
5. One Thousand Moons
6. Silent Rebellion
7. Steal Away
8. The Dutchman
9. The Trek
10. The History of Sound
11. Under the Same Sun 12. Variation of the Theme
Documentaries
1. A Little Black Man From Congo
2. Let Them Be Seen
3. Mama-Demic
Short Films
1. Dear Skhonkwane
2. Dust to Dreams
3. Eyelashes
4. I Think I Should Say Something
5. Mama Demic
6. Mayfair
7. Rise
8. Stero
9. The Man, The Cliff and The Dog
Student Shorts
1. Moepo Wa Madi
2. Queenpin
3. The Silent Inheritance
A Push For Sound And Storytelling
With a jury of global standing and films that push form, sound and storytelling, the Joburg Film Festival’s 2026 In Competition selection signals a confident, outward-looking moment for African and international cinema.
Tickets are on sale for all the in-competition films at the Joburg Film Festival
