Africa’s Stories.
Wales’s Screen.
The Festival
Africa is not one story.
It’s thousands of languages, cities, traditions and imaginations — and for three days this September, Cardiff becomes the place where those stories meet an audience ready to see them.
13
Years of festival
168
Films screened
10,000+
Viewers
1
Wales’s only African film festival
My Father’s Shadow
Akinola Davis · Nigeria-UK · 2025 · 93 min
Two young brothers explore Lagos with their estranged father during the 1993 Nigerian election crisis — witnessing both the city’s magnitude and their father’s own reckoning.
The screening opens the festival at 18:10, following welcome remarks from festival producer Rosemary Adjoa Dery, and is followed by the Akwaaba Launch Party with a DJ set from Samandaal on the Concourse.
Three days. Films, workshops, music, market.
13:30
African Storytelling Workshop
Saturday · Cinema Foyer · With Bevin Magama
Discover the art of African storytelling through guided exercises, creative prompts and shared experiences. Open to all backgrounds and experience levels.
15:00
African Dance Workshop
Saturday · Dance Studio · With Idrissa Camara
West African dance traditions meet contemporary performance practice. Live rhythms, a welcoming room, and movement as a form of expression and community.
10:00–18:00
Mansa Market
Saturday & Sunday · Concourse
Inspired by Mansa Musa’s pilgrimage and the cultural exchange it created. Food, craft, textiles and traders across the full festival weekend.
Featured Films
Feature, short, animation, documentary, experimental.
Omen
Baloji · Belgium/DR Congo · 2023. Time ·16:50
Four people considered witches and sorcerers find a way to help each other escape their fate, in a phantasmagorical Africa.
Liyana
Eswatini · Family/PG · Saturday. Time 11:30
Five children in the Kingdom of Eswatini turn past traumas into the tale of a Swazi girl who sets out to save her twin brothers.
THE FESTIVAL TRAILER
Watch the official Watch Africa Film Festival trailer and step inside nine days of premieres, conversations and Cape Town cinema.
The people bringing these stories to the screen.
Bevin Magama
Facilitator, African Storytelling Workshop · Saturday, Cinema Foyer
Discover the art of African storytelling with Bevin Magama in this engaging, interactive workshop at the Watch-Africa Film Festival. Through guided exercises, creative prompts, and shared experiences, participants will explore how stories connect us, preserve culture, and inspire change. Drawing on African storytelling traditions alongside contemporary approaches, Bevin will help participants develop their voice, build confidence, and craft compelling narratives.
LAKU NEG
Meet Adéọlá
An artist-researcher living in Wales since 2003. I am interested in carnival, masquerade and ritual and the ways in which we perform our fragments – the ways we express identity and belonging in the diaspora – through memory, re-imagination and the making of sacred spaces.
Samandaal
DJ, Akwaaba Launch Party
Friday night on the Concourse. Samandaal opens the festival weekend with a set spanning the continent and its diaspora.
More than a film festival. A gathering.
Live music, dance and celebration
From the Akwaaba Launch Party to the closing TUZO Party, the weekend is built around gathering. In Swahili, tuzo means award or reward — so we celebrate success and culture together.
Short Snacks and conversation
After a curated selection of films, enjoy a range of African snacks and discuss what you’ve just watched. We know good conversation happens over good food.
Since 2013, in Cardiff.
Opening nights
Thirteen editions of queues around the block, first-time visitors and returning regulars.
Filmmaker Q&As
Directors, producers and performers in the room, answering the questions the film just raised.
Community screenings
Beyond the cinema — pavilions, gardens and partner venues across the city.
Year-Round Screenings
The festival doesn’t end in September.
Watch Africa runs a year-round monthly screenings programme, bringing African cinema to Cardiff audiences between festival editions — at Chapter Arts Centre, Grange Pavilion, and partner venues across the city.
One film. One evening. A room full of people who came to watch, talk, and stay a while after the credits roll.
WAFF Club
Closer to everything we do.
Our year-round community for people who don’t want to wait until September to be part of Watch Africa.
Free to join. Discounted monthly screenings, networking with filmmakers and industry, a hand in shaping the festival, and an official WAFF Club tee for every member.
Building stronger cultural connections between Wales and Africa.
Stay in the loop
Guest announcements, ticket launches and monthly screenings — first.
Express Your Africa.
11–13 September 2026 · Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff. Whether you’re discovering African cinema for the first time or reconnecting with stories that feel like home — there’s a place for you here.
Watch Africa in the Moment
Follow Watch Africa Film Festival on Instagram for the latest festival news, films, conversations and community moments.
TOMORROW! We’re bringing BABYLON to Butetown! 🎬
This Black History Month, we’re taking it back to 1980 with Babylon, a Black British classic that still has so much to say about music, identity, racism and what it means to be young and Black in Britain.
If you’ve seen it before, come experience it on the big screen. If you haven’t, this is your chance!
We’re bringing people together for an evening of film, music and conversation. Come watch, share your thoughts and connect with the community.
📍 Butetown Community Centre, Cardiff
📅 Wednesday 14 October
⏰ 6:30pm
🎟️ Tickets from £2
Bring a friend, bring your people. We’d love to see you there!
Part of Rip It Up: Young, Black & Bold, presented by Watch Africa Film Festival.
Supported by Film Hub Wales as part of the BFI Film Audience Network, made possible by the National Lottery.
#WatchAfrica #RipItUp #Babylon1980 #BlackHistoryMonth #BlackBritishCinema Butetown CardiffEvents
A Black British classic. On the big screen. Right here in Butetown. 🎬
This Black History Month, Young, Black & Bold is bringing Babylon to Butetown for an evening of film, music and conversation.
Come through, watch the film with us and stay for the post-film conversation. Whether you already know Babylon or this is your first time seeing it, you’re welcome.
📅 Wednesday 14 October
📍 Butetown Community Centre
🕕 From 6 30 PM
Presented by Watch Africa Film Festival as part of BFI FAN’s Rip It Up season.
Supported by Film Hub Wales as part of the BFI Film Audience Network (FAN), made possible by the National Lottery.
Okayyy, let us introduce ourselves properly 👋🏾
Meet some of the people behind Watch Africa and our RIP IT UP screenings this Black History Month.
From choosing the films and putting the screenings together, to all the bits you probably don’t see happening behind the scenes, this is some of the team making it happen.
Swipe through and meet the producers
And of course, come see what we’ve been cooking.
Babylon | 14 October
Watch Africa x RIP IT UP
RIP IT UP: YOUNG, BLACK & BOLD 🎬
Watch Africa Film Festival is bringing Black British stories of rebellion, identity and joy to Cardiff this autumn.
Catch Babylon, Pressure and Rocks — powerful films that capture the fire and heart of young Black British life — Q&As designed to spark real conversation.
📅 Oct
📍 Local Cardiff cinema
🎟️ Films | Workshops | Q&A
Part of Rip It Up, BFI FAN’s UK-wide celebration of youth culture on screen. Funded by Ffilm Hub Wales.
More details dropping soon — watch this space 👀
#YoungBlackAndBold #RipItUp #WatchAfricaFilmFestival
THANK YOU 🌍🎬 Watch Africa Film Festival 2026 has come to a close.
Three days of films, workshops, conversations, music, creativity and community, and we want to say a huge thank you to everyone who made it possible.
To every filmmaker who trusted us with their work, every artist and facilitator who shared their practice, every performer, speaker, panellist, vendor, volunteer and every member of the team working behind the scenes, thank you.
To everyone who bought a ticket, came to a workshop, explored Mansa Market, joined a conversation, watched something unfamiliar, stayed for a Q&A, danced with us or simply walked through the doors and became part of the weekend, thank you for showing up for African cinema in Wales.
A very special thank you to @chapterartscentre for being the home of Watch Africa Film Festival 2026. From the cinema screens and workshop spaces to the concourse, market and celebrations, thank you to the Chapter team for helping us bring three days of African film, culture and community together under one roof.
And a huge thank you to our funders, supporters and partners, whose support makes this work possible:
@ffilmcymruwales
@bfinetwork
@ssapwales
@cultureconnect.wales
@urbanstamphub
@chapterartscentre
Watch Africa exists to create space for the breadth of African and diaspora stories, while building connections between Africa, its diaspora and audiences here in Wales.
This weekend reminded us exactly why those spaces matter.
The festival may be over, but the stories continue. ❤️
Thank you for being part of Watch Africa 2026.
EXPRESS YOUR AFRICA.
Africa’s stories through Welsh screens
⚠️ IMPORTANT TIME CHANGE
CCW × UrbanStamp presents: Diaspora in Wales will now begin at 11:20am today.
Please note the updated start time if you’re joining us.
We sincerely apologise for the late change and any inconvenience this may cause, and thank you for your understanding.
📍 Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff
⏰ NEW TIME: 11:20AM
See you shortly! 🎬
THE WAFF 2026 AWARDS 🏆🎬 We’ve watched the films. We’ve shared the stories. Now it’s time to celebrate the filmmakers behind them.
Tomorrow night, we close Watch Africa Film Festival 2026 with our Awards Ceremony, recognising this year’s winners and finalists across short film, documentary and our Audience Award.
And the best bit? It’s FREE to attend.
The evening will also feature live performances from @saynizzzy and @theboyisgreat , with Afrobeats throughout the celebration.
Come dressed, come celebrate, come and close out WAFF 2026 with us. 🌍
📅 Sunday 13 September
⏰ 8:30pm
📍 Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff
🎟 FREE TO ATTEND
Film. Culture. Community. Celebration.
Express Your Africa.
DAY 2 IS ON 🎬🌍
Watch Africa Film Festival continues TODAY at Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff.
We’re into Day 2 and there’s still plenty happening across Chapter today, with African cinema, workshops, conversation and community all under one roof.
On screen today: Liyana, Luxor, Dreamers, Omen, Blue Burning and Atlantics, alongside our WAFF Short Film Finalists.
Plus, get involved beyond the cinema with our African Storytelling Workshop with Bevin Magama, African Dance Workshop with Idrissa Camara, and explore Mansa Market throughout the day.
Some events are ticketed, some are Pay What You Can, so if you’re wondering what to do with your Saturday, come down and join us.
📍 Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff
📅 TODAY, Saturday 12 September
🎬 Films • Workshops • Mansa Market • Community
We’re here all day.
Express Your Africa.
