Afrika Eye, the South West’s biggest celebration of African cinema and culture, returns to Bristol UNESCO City of Film from 19 to 22 November with a new director in charge and a line-up offering more film premieres than ever before.
For his first edition since taking over from Annie Menter, new festival director Gwinyai Mparutsa has programmed eight feature length films and two shorts, all of them showing ahead of their official release in the UK.
They include a preview showing of Arie and Chuko Esiri’s Clarissa (2026), a re-imagining of Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway, set in Nigeria and starring Sophie Okinado and David Oyelowo; a celebration of South African hip-hop through documentaries Notes from the Underground (2026) and Amigo the Griot (2026); Cotton Queen (2025), Suzannah Mirghani’s award winning film from Sudan about a young woman caught between tradition and new possibilities; The Eyes of Ghana (2025), Ben Proudfoot’s documentary compiled from unique, saved, footage about Ghana’s quest for independence as captured by a cameraman now in his 90s; and Congo Boy (2026), Rafiki Fariala’s musical drama from the Central African Republic.
Congo Boy © 2026 Makongo FIlms – Unité – Kiripifilms – Karta Film – Canal+
This year’s festival is mainly taking place at Watershed but with additional events at Easton Community Centre on Sunday 22 November.
Gwinyai Mparutsa says: “Our tagline this year is First Look, Next Generation, and we mean both halves of it. Every feature in the programme is arriving fresh from the Cannes, Berlin and Toronto film festivals and showing here ahead of their UK release, so Bristol audiences will be among the first in the country to see them. And we’ve built the festival around the next generation: young people chasing their dreams through music, in the boxing ring, behind a camera, in stories about resilience, belonging and finding your voice.”
Afrika Eye director Gwinyai Mparutsa
He added: “Bristol has an audience like no other: a UNESCO City of Film with deep African and Caribbean roots, a huge student population and communities that don’t just watch films but carry the conversation on long after the credits roll. This festival is made for them.”
Ahead of the main festival, Afrika Eye partnered with Film Africa (London) on 27th October to present a special Watershed screening of DAO (2026, France, Senegal, Guinea-Bissou), the latest film by the French Senegalese director Alain Gomis, comparing and contrasting a modern wedding in Paris with traditional funeral rites in Africa.
In addition, on Tuesday 17 November (18:30) at the Greenback pub, Easton, there will be a repeat showing of Afrika Eye’s own film, ROOTED IN BRISTOL, looking at the challenges for gardeners and allotment holders of Afro Caribbean descent eager to keep family culinary traditions alive.
- To view the programme in full and stay up to date with festival news, visit www.afrikaeye.org.uk, find Afrika Eye Film Festival on Facebook or follow @afrikaeyefest on Instagram.
- To book for Watershed screenings, call in at the box office, 1 Canons Road, Bristol, BS1 5TX, telephone 0117 927 5100 or visit www.watershed.co.uk.
- For Easton Community Centre bookings, visit www.afrikaeye.org.uk.
Afrika Eye is made possible thanks to funding from Film Hub SW and The Morel Trust.