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.