Editorial · Watch guide

The best South African documentaries to watch right now

South Africa has one of the most consequential documentary traditions on the continent — from anti-apartheid testimony to contemporary essay films grappling with land, memory and power. These are the titles we keep returning to.

  1. #1 · 2014

    Miners Shot Down

    Directed by Rehad Desai

    The Marikana massacre, unflinchingly. Essential viewing on post-apartheid South Africa.

  2. #2 · 2017

    Strike a Rock

    Directed by Aliki Saragas

    Two women take on Lonmin in the aftermath of Marikana — quiet, devastating, vital.

  3. #3 · 2016

    Action Kommandant

    Directed by Nadine Cloete

    The story of Ashley Kriel — youth, resistance and the Cape Flats.

  4. #4 · 2018

    The Sound of Masks

    Directed by Sara Gouveia

    Mozambican dancer Atanásio Cosme Nyusi traces memory through the timbila.

  5. #5 · 2020

    Influence

    Directed by Diana Neille & Richard Poplak

    Bell Pottinger, state capture and the global PR machine — a South African story with planetary reach.

  6. #6 · 2021

    Murder in Paris

    Directed by Enver Samuel

    The 1988 Paris assassination of Dulcie September, finally investigated.

  7. #7 · 2021

    Music Is My Life — Joseph Shabalala

    Directed by Antjie Krog

    An intimate portrait of Ladysmith Black Mambazo's founder.

  8. #8 · 2023

    Milisuthando

    Directed by Milisuthando Bongela

    A first-person reckoning with the Transkei, love and the long shadow of apartheid.

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