Three African features from Nigeria, Kenya, and South Africa will screen across competitive and non-competitive sections.
By Vivian Nneka Nwajiaku
The Sundance Film Festival has announced its lineup of feature films and episodic projects participating in the 2026 edition of the festival, set to hold from 22nd January to 1st February, 2026. Notably, three African features from Nigeria, Kenya, and South Africa will screen across competitive and non-competitive sections.
Making its world premiere in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition is Lady, a United Kingdom/Nigerian co-production and the debut feature film of writer-director, Olive Nwosu, a Sundance alumna whose 2021 short, Egúngún (Masquerade), was nominated for the Short Film Grand Jury Prize at the 2022 Sundance. Lady marks Nigeria’s first feature film appearance at Sundance since C.J. Obasi’s Mami Wata made history in 2023 as the first film by a Nigerian-based filmmaker to premiere at the festival and win a Special Jury Prize in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition.
Described as “an exploration of female identity and desire, and of a city that trembles with the weight of its own possibility and despair”, Lady follows its titular protagonist, a female cab driver in the sprawling city of Lagos. When an old friend propositions her, she is drawn into the city’s underground nightlife, driving a group of sex workers whose sisterhood pulls her into danger and joy and sets her on a journey towards her own transformation. The film stars Jessica Gabriel’s Ujah, Amanda Oruh, Tinuade Jemiseye, Binta Ayo Mogaji, Seun Kuti, and Bucci Franklin.
Also premiering at Sundance is Kikuyu Land, a Kenyan documentary feature competing in the World Cinema Documentary Competition. Directed by Bea Wangondu and Emmy award-winning filmmaker Andrew H. Brown, Kikuyu Land follows a Nairobi journalist as she stumbles upon her own family’s concealed secrets while probing a land battle entangling the local government and a powerful multinational corporation involved in Kenya’s tea industry. Kikuyu Land marks another return for the East African country, which has had multiple films at Sundance, including Maia Lekow and Christopher King’s How to Build a Library, which premiered in the same category in 2025.
South Africa also returns to Sundance, this time in the Premieres section, with Troublemaker, a documentary by renowned American director, Antoine Fuqua, making its world premiere. A co-production between South Africa, the United States, and the United Kingdom, Troublemaker recounts the struggle against apartheid through Nelson Mandela’s own voice, drawn from recordings he made while writing his autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom. South Africa’s last feature film at Sundance was in 2023, with the world premiere of Milisuthando Bongela’s acclaimed documentary, Milisuthando, in the World Cinema Documentary Competition.
The 2026 Sundance Film Festival will take place in person in Park City and Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. An online screening program will also be available to US audiences from 29th January to 1st February, 2026, featuring films in the five competition sections, including the NEXT category. The selections for the Sundance Short Film Program will be announced in the coming days.