Monsters In Africa: Why the continent waits for its own global fantasy and sci-fi breakthrough

by Thinus Ferreira

While Netflix's Squid Game did it for Asia and put Korea on the global map for genre content, the Nordics found success mining folklore, and Latin America booms with producing "telefantasy", the one continent that is still waiting for its local Wakanda-like breakthrough on the worldwide stage is Africa.

While Africa is rich in stories, folklore, writing talent and creativity, the execution and production in successfully birthing an African-type of Squid Game that garners global appeal has so far remained elusive.

In September 2024, MultiChoice's Showmax, which Canal+ is now shuttering, released Subterranea, Kenya's first-ever sci-fi series as a psychological thriller that never would have seen the light of day if it weren't for the African streaming service that took a big swing with the Nairobi-based Kibanda Pictures on the bunker-set series.

When it comes to quality, engrossing and smart science fiction and fantasy, home-made in Africa and resonating with global viewers, Nosipho Dumisa-Ngoasheng, says the lack of buzzed-about genre content is because Africa underestimates itself.

The South African writer, director and producer who co-founded Gambit Films, says, "I have many opinions on this".

She spoke as a panellist at the 8th Joburg Film Festival in Johannesburg, South Africa, where she implored Africa's biz to take a new look at genre content and to take the risk with sci-fi and fantasy stories, and to start trying it out on a small scale.

While  Comic Con Cape Town is set for 30 April and Comic Con Africa 2026 is marked for 24 September in Johannesburg and while both fan-driven events on African soil have found success and support from sci-fi and fantasy lovers, the content and stars it rests on are primarily international. 

"This is for me where I think it's a case of 'don't under-estimate our audiences'. I think in this particular area, I do feel we have under-estimated our audiences," she says.

"2009's District 9 science fiction action film from Neill Blomkamp came out several years ago. If you asked me what film I wish I had been a part of, that would be it without a question," Dumisa-Ngoasheng noted.

"While it wasn't a South African production in that it wasn't a South African company or South African studio or anything like that, what it did highlight is that our audiences are absolutely hungry for it. Our audience absolutely wants it. And then nothing."

"When District 9 came out, I was absolutely convinced that it was the dawn of a new era - that something new was coming. We had big things we were pitching. We had all or spec sci-fi's. And then the conversations were always ''Our audiences don't understand it'. Which I don't believe."

"We've seen it time and time again - scifi and fantasy as genre work. I think the misconception and where we falter is in thinking it requires a crazy budget because it requires a crazy, massive world and everything is big."

"I think it comes back to the same thing about knowing what you won't compromise on. There is nothing wrong with starting small, for example, an Ex Machina. Her. These are grounded scifi's where yes, the budgets in Hollywood are spent on Joaquin Phoenix and so on but we don't have to do that."

"It takes a high concept, that is grounded with an element of these genres, that we slowly start to explore and that we start to play around with and take some risks. It's also a question of who do we take risks with? Who has already displayed an understanding of the genre?"

Dumisa-Ngoasheng says "What I also think sometimes happens if we are navigating and going into genres with partners who haven't necessarily attempted it even on a small scale, then there's a higher risk, as opposed to 'maybe they have shorts that have already been done in this way.' Maybe the story isn't so good but the technical is good - let's partner with a great storyteller or use a piece of IP to build the thing."

"I can't stress enough how I feel there's an audience, myself being one of those audience members, who are greatly underserved in the genres of sci-fi and fantasy. I mean fantasy! Africa's storytelling is grounded in fantastical stories but we never get to go there." 

Swiss period drama Silent Rebellion wins 8th Joburg Film Festival as biz takes SA government to task: 'Films are not a side project - it's an economy' (full winners list)

by Thinus Ferreira

The Swiss period drama Silent Rebellion (À bras-le-corps) scooped both the Best Feature Film and Best Cinematography prizes at Saturday night's award ceremony for 2026's 8th Joburg Film Festival in Sandton, with Variations on a Theme (pictured) winning as Best African Film.

Directed by Marie-Elsa Sgualdo, the World War 2-era drama Silent Rebellion received a Nguni Horn alongside winners from a range of selections at the awards show held at the Theatre on the Square.

Veteran producer Harriet Gavshon was presented with the lifetime achievement award for her contribution over decades to the South African TV and film industry.

Tim Mangwedi, founder and director of the Joburg Film Festival, said he "wanted to acknowledge the context we are all working in".

"The South African film and television industry has been under pressure for a while."

Addressing the South African government, Tim Mangwedi said the Joburg Film Festival will continue "in a way that sustainable, that is advocating for an industry environment that works. It means partnerships that work. It means that films are not a side project - it's an economy. It's a real business. It's a serious business."

His remarks came as South Africa's government still seems to do little about the shambolic state of the country's film rebate system, which sees international producers no longer opting to film here, costing jobs and large projects, while local producers are also starved in rebates they quality for.

The government department of trade, industry and competition (DTIC) owes the sector over R600 billion in unpaid film rebates which were approved and haven't done any new further adjudications for producers to qualify for funding since February 2024. 

On Saturday night "Shirley Adonisi, channel director for local entertainment at Canal+'s MultiChoice, on stage said "African storytelling is one of the most exciting creative forces anywhere in the world".

Shirley Adonisi said that new MultiChoice owner Canal+ will continue to invest in African content and will remain a supporter of the Joburg Film Festival "because our missions are aligned".

"We want to see African and South African films take up more space - not quietly but boldly, the way we do it as Africans."

"We know that local content matters, local languages matter, authenticity matters, the presentation matters. Our audiences want to see themselves fully and truthfully on the screen and we are committed to delivering that across our channels and our broader entertainment platforms."

"We continue to invest in new productions, telenovelas, miniseries, films, documentaries and many more. These are not just shows - they are jobs, playing grounds, springboards and cultural stepping stones."

"We will continue to unearth new talent and emerging voices, and broadcast stories that shift perspectives and open possibilities."

Here are the 8th Joburg Film Festival category winners:

Best Feature Film - Silent Rebellion

Best African Film - Variations On A Theme

Best Cinematography - Silent Rebellion

Best Edit - Broken Voices

Best Documentary - Let Them Be Seen

Best Short Film - Stero

Best Student Film - The Silent Inheritance

Young Voices Competition Winner - Umxoxiso

Special Recognition - Harriet Gavshon

2026's 8th Joburg Film Festival opens and proclaims all filmmaker views welcome: 'A space where politics and artistry meet'

By Thinus Ferreira

Following the brouhaha around whether art should be divorced from politics - and talking about it - at the just-concluded Berlinale, the organisers of the 8th Joburg Film Festival at Tuesday night's opener were adamant that all voices and viewpoints are welcome, noting that African filmmaking is inherently political.

Hundreds of filmmakers, TV and film executives, distributors, actors and media converged on the Theatre on the Square to watch the sold-out festival opener Laundry, written and directed by Zamo Mkhwanazi as a searing Apartheid-era drama. 

In the audience were Nigeria, Japan and France's ambassadors to South Africa, as well as executives from Canal+ after its recent acquisition of MultiChoice like Laurent Sicouri, head of cinema and series for Canal+ International.

Around 138 films will unspool this week, of which many carry political themes and have evocative titles like Tshililo waha Muzila's documentary A Little Black Man from Congo (Negrito Del Congo).

"Of course, this festival happens at the moment when the world feels anything but nuanced - at the moment when artists are being asked: Should you speak or should you stay silent?" said Nhlanhla Ndaba in his opening remarks on stage before the screening of Laundry.

"At the Berlinale we witnessed a fierce debate about whether filmmakers should engage in politics. It was suggested that artists should stay away from politics because films are a counterweight to politics."

"The Joburg Film Festival has always been a space where politics and artistry meet, where the African continent and the world connect, where politics are just but another story. Where we don't pretend that storytelling happens in a vacuum."

"The moment we stop reflecting the world in all its beauty and in all its brokenness, it's the moment we stop being relevant."

"This past year the South African film industry has faced a crisis that tested out very foundation. As of January 2026 the department of trade, industry and competition (DTIC) owes our industry over R600 million in outstanding rebates."

"The last adjudication panel meeting took place in March 2024, that's two years ago. Two years of camera operators, grips, sound engineers, producers, make-up artists staring atapproved projects and payments that have simply not arrived."

"Just weeks ago, hundreds of filmworkers marched to parliament under the banner 'Save SA film jobs' and at the state of the nation address, the creative sector was barely acknowledged. President Cyril Ramaphosa made no mention of the film rebate crisis. No plan to rescue investor confidence, no timeline for intervention," Nhlanhla Ndaba said.

"While rebates have been delayed, our spirit has not. While international productions have abandoned South Africa for Malta and Portugal, where incentive programmes function efficiently, our filmmakers have not abandoned their craft."

"While we wait for a system that seems to have forgotten us, we keep telling stories," Nhlanhla Ndaba noted.

"It's an industry, told that they don't matter, who are standing here, refusing to die. No amount of bureaucratic dysfunction can ever take that away."

Tarryn Joffe, JFF manager, said the festival "recognises the courage of filmmakers to create work, staying with the story through uncertainty, bringing it to an audience".

Nicola Auret, MultiChoice's executive head of programming, caused a jolt when she shrieked on stage after swatting away a flying insect that landed on her hair and said "The world is restless and reshaping itself in real time".

"Globally, the entertainment industry is under enormous pressure. Markets are shifting, traditional business models are being rewritten, and the rise of AI is changing everything for us. It's changing how stories are made and its changing how people view our stories and discover them."

"We cannot control these pressures, but I believe African filmmakers know how to find rhythm in chaos. We know how to create despite of it, and sometimes because of it and that matters right now."

"Africans are creative. We are resilient, and we have a sense of community that surrounds us that makes things possible that cannot be done elsewhere."

Producer Cait Pansegrouw and JFF jury member, told TVwithThinus alongside Tuesday's red carpet that "for me, film is inherently political".

"People don't give enough thought to the fact that with the rise of fascism, freedom of expression is in real danger and we should absolutely be talking about everything that we want to talk about and be asking really tough questions".