The Africa Human Rights Film Festival (AHRFF) returns to the Kalahari this October for a week of film, dialogue, skills development and networking, bringing compelling stories about human rights and social justice to communities in Rietfontein and Andriesvale.
The 2026 edition, scheduled for 12–18 October 2026, will feature film screenings, panel discussions, filmmaking workshops, networking sessions and masterclasses led by experienced industry practitioners. Emerging filmmakers from the region will have opportunities to learn directly from established professionals, including veteran trainer Hein Ungerer and filmmaker and trainer Joy Nkgapele.
This year’s festival is centred on the theme “Setting the Discourse”, a call to restore a culture of questioning, debating and critically engaging with the issues shaping society.
“This comes following the escalation of misinformation on important issues affecting the world. People are too busy with technology, doomscrolling, and a world that sort of praises low attention spans. We want this festival to revive the spirit of taking, debating and critically analysing issues,” says Festival Director Davison Mudzingwa.
Using Film To Open Difficult Conversations
The 2026 programme brings together films that explore memory, land, food sovereignty, migration, identity, ageing, apartheid history and the experiences of communities confronting injustice.
Among the films scheduled for screening is Dear Sikhonkwane, directed by Sihle Hlope, an intimate portrait of one of the first SiSwati authors, who wrote, co-wrote and edited more than 40 books in less than two decades. The film explores his passion for his mother tongue, his life and the enduring legacy of his literary work.
Hearts Remember turns its attention to dementia and ageing in contemporary South Africa. Featuring five families, including the previously untold story of iconic South African football coach Clive Barker, the feature-length documentary brings together the experiences of people living with dementia, their families, community leaders and experts.
Food systems and the rights of smallholder farmers take centre stage in SEED IS LIFE, directed by Deidre May.
The film examines the growing pressures facing farmer-managed seed systems and follows communities and farmers in South Africa and Zimbabwe who are working to protect and revive indigenous seed systems.
The international documentary EXODUS: A WAR AGAINST THE PEOPLE, directed by Bijoyini Chatterjee, takes audiences to the Mexico–US border, where migrant families fleeing violence seek protection.
Through migrant testimonies, investigative journeys and cinema-vérité footage, the film explores forced displacement, disappearances and the humanitarian crisis confronting people seeking safety.
Closer to home, Christopher Truter, A Child of 1976, directed by Deidré Jantjies, revisits the story of Christopher Truter, a young man from Cape Town who was killed by police in August 1976. Fifty years after the Soweto uprising, the film follows his niece, Carmelita Truter, as she seeks recognition for an unsung victim of the apartheid era.
Questions of land and dispossession also feature prominently in the programme through A Piece of Ground, directed by Sesihle Manzini, which explores South Africa’s long history of land dispossession, slavery and forced removals, and Stolen Ground: The Tygerberg Raceway Story, directed by Joe Emilio, which investigates the occupation of the historic Tygerberg Raceway and tensions surrounding land invasions and property rights.
Four films made by young people from the Kalahari will also form part of the screening programme. The films explore themes including identity, gender-based violence and a brave, personal coming-of-age documentary by Joy Baardman. The showcase forms part of AHRFF’s goal of building a thriving film industry in the Kalahari.
Building A Film Ecosystem In The Kalahari
While film exhibition remains central to the festival, AHRFF’s work extends beyond the annual event.
Launched in 2018, the festival has sought to contribute to the development of a sustainable film ecosystem in the Kalahari through film screenings, training and opportunities for young people to develop filmmaking skills.
For the organisation, bringing cinema to rural communities is also about creating the conditions for local storytellers to tell their own stories and participate more meaningfully in the wider creative economy.
“A lot has been said about the marginalisation of the Kalahari. We believe the film ecosystem is beginning to show signs of growth following years of skills development and film exhibition. There is evidence that, with proper support and resourcing, marginalised communities can compete equally with peers elsewhere in the world, and their unique stories are the currency,” Mudzingwa says.
Over the years, AHRFF has used film education and exhibition as complementary tools, exposing communities to films from South Africa and beyond while simultaneously developing the skills of emerging filmmakers in the region.
The 2026 festival continues this approach by combining screenings with practical training, masterclasses, dialogue and networking, creating a space where audiences are not simply consumers of cinema but participants in conversations about society and their communities.
The Africa Human Rights Film Festival – Kalahari 2026 is supported by the National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) and the Presidential Employment Stimulus Programme (PESP).
