Among the standout selections this year’s SXSW London Screen Festival is a strong slate of films from African filmmakers and the African diaspora, exploring themes ranging from cultural identity to displacement across multiple sections of the program.
By Vivian Nneka Nwajiaku
The SXSW London Screen Festival is set to launch its inaugural London edition this June, with the London edition presenting a bold and diverse lineup of features, documentaries, short films, and experimental works from around the world.
Among the standout selections this year is a strong slate of films from African filmmakers and the African diaspora, exploring themes ranging from cultural identity to displacement across multiple sections of the program, including the Official Feature Film Competition, Shorts Programs, and Special Events.
Participating in the Official Feature Film Competition and making its UK premiere is Ancestral Visions of the Future (2025), a docufiction co-production of Lesotho, France, Germany, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia, directed by Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese whose international breakout feature, This Is Not a Burial, It’s a Resurrection (2019), won the Jury Award for Visionary Filmmaking at the Sundance Film Festival in 2020.
Ancestral Visions of the Future, is based on Mosese’s 2023 eponymous exhibition and is narrated by the director who returns to Lesotho, his home country, to reflect on the experience of living in exile in Berlin.
Also making its UK premiere is Doppelgängers³ (2024), a documentary feature that follows three doppelgängers as they meet in outer space to design a utopic future. A co-production of Algeria, Armenia, UK and France, the documentary film is directed by Nelly Ben Hayoun- Stépanian, a multidisciplinary artist, filmmaker, and cultural activist of Algerian and Armenian descent.
In the short film sections, British-Nigerian director, Tomisin Adepeju, will present his short film, Journey Mercies (2023), a UK production that meditates on cultural identity, aging, and grief. Journey Mercies will screen in a section of the shorts program called “Echoes of a Previous Existence” and will also compete in the Official Short Film Competition.
Morocco’s Aicha (2025), directed by Sanaa El Alaoui, about a grieving mother who turns to a hypnotic mystic ritual to deal with her loss, will screen in the Dream States section of the shorts program, while The River (2024), a Herrana Addisu-directed Ethiopia and United States co-production that pays homage to the culture and experiences of Ethiopian women, will screen in the “Echoes of a Previous Existence” section.
Also screening as part of the shorts program is Fluid Lagos (2024), an experimental documentary from Nigeria. A collaborative project directed by Justine Chima Unanka, Kamnelechukwu Obasi, Kenneth “Laboomz” Donatus, Lateefah Mayaki, Morola Odufuwa, Nora Mandray, Peace “Dopay” Olatunji, Ramon Shitta, Uwana “Churchy” Anthony, and Wami Aluko, the documentary explores the changing nature of identity through water, using the story of a boatman, a vessel and a passenger in Lagos.
The festival will also host the world premieres of Victory (2025) a short film accompanying the return album of veteran American rapper, Slick Rick, directed by Nigerian director, Meji Alabi and starring Idris Elba, and Shoot The People (2025), a documentary feature by British director, Andy Mundy-Castle, following Oscar-nominated Nigerian-born British photographer, Misan Harriman, whose iconic images of social movements and modern royalty have earned global acclaim.
This year’s SXSW London Screen Festival will also shine a spotlight on Grammy-winning Nigerian-British video director and filmmaker, Jenn Nkiru, through a special retrospective titled Cosmic Archeology: The Films of Jenn Nkiru. The festival will also feature Nkiru’s feature documentary The Great North (2024), as well as a talk delivered by the filmmaker, introducing her film, sound, and publishing imprint, MOTHERSHIP.
SXSW London Screen Festival takes place from 2nd to 7th June, 2025 across various locations in London.