3 weeks to go 🎬 The second lineup of #Encounters2026 is here.
From stories of resistance and remembrance to journeys of identity, justice, music, and survival.
Featuring:
🎬 My Father’s Son
🎬 American Doctor
🎬 Everybody to Kenmure Street
🎬 The Woman Who Poked the Leopard
🎬 Amilcar
🎬 Life After Siham
🎬 Strange Journey: The Story of Rocky Horror
🎬 All About the Money
A heartfelt thank you to the filmmakers, partners, and funders helping bring the 28th edition of Encounters to life ❤️
🎟️ Tickets on sale now: Link in bio
#EncountersDoc #DocumentaryFilm #AfricanCinema
58 documentaries. 33 countries. One shared truth: Love, in all its forms, endures
For 28 years, Encounters has celebrated documentary in Africa through stories that move us, challenge us, and bring us closer to one another.
This year, we hold each other.
With open hands and courageous hearts, we gather around stories rooted in memory, loss, resistance, joy, and the radical act of beginning again. #Encounters2026 | 4–14 June
Cape Town • Johannesburg • Pretoria
Tickets on sale now: Link in Bio 🔗
Design by @toby_2shoes
Edited by @ash_da_silva
Animation by @shukry_adams
TICKETS NOW ON SALE 🎟️
For 28 years, Encounters has brought audiences together through stories that challenge, move, and connect us.
This year’s programme is a reminder that even in difficult times, documentary has the power to inspire resistance, deepen understanding, and imagine new possibilities for the future.
From powerful investigations to intimate human stories,
#EncountersDoc invites you to look closer, listen deeper, and love harder.
📍 4–14 June 2026
Cape Town • Johannesburg • Pretoria
🎬 LINK IN BIO | Full programme + tickets available now: https://linktr.ee/encountersdoc
V&A Waterfront Ster-Kinekor in Cape Town
Labia Theatre
Bertha House Mowbray
Bertha Movie House in Khayelitsha
Ster-Kinekor Sandton
Rosebank Nouveau
Ster-Kinekor Southgate
The Bioscope
Brooklyn Commercial in Pretoria
🎬 #Encounters2026 is proud to partner once again with The Bioscope Independent Cinema ❤️
For years, The Bioscope has been a vital home for independent cinema, community, and bold storytelling in Johannesburg — the perfect space for documentaries that challenge, connect, and stay with us.
Join us for intimate screenings, filmmaker Q&As, and conversations that continue beyond the screen.
📍 44 Stanley Ave, Milpark
🎟️ 4–14 June
#EncountersDoc #TheBioscope #IndependentCinema #JoburgCulture
🎬 The Woman Who Poked The Leopard “You can handcuff the body, but not the spirit.”
This gripping documentary follows Ugandan poet and activist Stella Nyanzi as she fearlessly challenges the violent status quo of President Yoweri Museveni through resistance, poetry, and radical courage.
A powerful portrait of defiance, freedom, and the enduring strength of the human spirit.
Screenings: https://encounters.co.za/film/woman-who-poked-the-leopard/
📍 Sat, 6 June | 4:30PM
CT: Ster-Kinekor V&A, Screen 13 + Q&A
📍 Sun, 7 June | 4:00PM
JHB: Ster-Kinekor Brooklyn Commercial, Screen 5
📍 Mon, 8 June | 3:00PM
CT: Bertha Mowbray + Q&A
📍 Wed, 10 June | 6:30PM
CT: Labia, Screen 1 + Q&A
📍 Sun, 14 June | 2:00PM
CT: Bertha Khayelitsha
📍 Sun, 14 June | 4:30PM
JHB: Rosebank Nouveau, Screen 6 + Q&A
#Encounters2026 #EncountersDoc
So honoured to announce our African Premiere @encountersdoc ! It truly feels so fulfilling to finally bring Shorty's story home 🇿🇦.
From the streets of Melville, to the movies!!
JHB:
6 June Rosebank Nouveau, 18:30
12 June The Bioscope, 18:00
CPT:
10 June Labia, 20:30
14 Bertha Khayelitsha, 11:00
Get your tickets now at https://encounters.co.za/film/just-because-im-a-street-kid/
Glory to God! We invite you all ❤
📍 Venue Partner Announcement ❤️
#Encounters2026 is proud to return to the Labia Theatre South Africa’s oldest independent cinema, celebrating 77 years of bringing audiences together through film.
From intimate conversations to powerful screenings, The Labia remains a beloved space where stories live on, communities gather, and documentary cinema continues to move us to look closer and listen deeper.
🎬 4–14 June | Cape Town
#EncountersDoc #LabiaTheatre #DocumentaryCinema
Robots is OFFICIALLY in selection at the prestigious @encountersdoc festival — Africa’s premiere and largest documentary festival ✨
As part of its power packed 2026 programme, Robots will be screening in Pretoria, Johannesburg and Cape Town. We’re also super excited for our first community screening happening in Khayelitsha, Cape Town 😊
Can’t wait to see you there! Tickets information to follow 😊🙌🏽
#Encounters2026 #Robots #DocumentaryFilm #EncountersDoc #BackTogether #Capetown #Johanneaburg #SouthAfrica #Africa #documentaryfilmmaking
🎬 Everybody to Kenmure Street
In May 2021, residents of a Glasgow neighbourhood took to the streets to stop the deportation of their neighbours, transforming an ordinary day into an extraordinary act of collective resistance.
A powerful documentary about community, solidarity, and what happens when people choose to stand together.
Screenings:
CT: Sat, 13 June 2:00pm Labia
JHB: Sun, 14 June 7:30pm Rosebank Nouveau
#Encounters2026 #EncountersDoc
Depois de conquistar a América Sul, América Central e Europa, agora chegou a vez do povo africano conhecer o maior patrimônio de Pernambuco. O povo Olindense!
Os Arcos®️ atravessa o Atlântico para desembarcar na 28º edição do @encountersdoc , o maior e mais importante festival de cinema documental da África, levando o caos organizado de Olinda para a África do Sul.
🍟 05/05 — 20h00 / Nouveau Rosebank
🍟 07/05 — 11h00 / Bertha Movie House
🍟 09/05 — 20h30 / The Labia Theatre
As garras afiadas de Olinda seguem avançando pelo planeta. Ontem Havana, hoje Lisboa, amanhã Joanesburgo, no futuro talvez Marte… Stay Mctuned! 〽️
From Cape Town to Johannesburg & Pretoria, Ster-Kinekor’s cinemas become spaces where audiences gather to look closer, listen deeper, and experience documentary storytelling together on the big screen.
Join us for screenings, filmmaker Q&As, and conversations that continue long after the credits roll.
📍 Ster-Kinekor V&A Waterfront
📍 Rosebank Nouveau
📍 Ster-Kinekor Sandton
📍 Ster-Kinekor Southgate
📍 Brooklyn Commercial
4–14 June 🎟️
#EncountersDoc #DocumentaryCinema
Honoured and overjoyed for RCLA to have been part of the journey of these wonderful films all screening @encountersdoc
Thank you for allowing us in towards finishing! Congratulations!
@zippyfilm@nicole.schafer.3572 Elan Gamaker @adrian_diff_van_wyk@thisischriskets
Huge hugs to @zippyfilm for opening the festival this year!
Truck Mama
CT: Bertha Khayelitsha Sat 06 June 1pm + Q&A, Bertha Mowbray Fri 12 June 3pm, Ster-Kinekor V&A Sat 13 June 8pm
JHB: Rosebank Nouveau Wed 10 June 8pm + Q&A
Notes from the Underground
CT: Labia Sat 06 June 6.30pm + Q&A, Bertha Khayelitsha Sun 07 June 2pm + Panel, Bertha Mowbray Wed 10 June 3pm + Q&A
JHB: Ster-Kinekor Brooklyn Commercial 5 Fri 12 June 6pm, Bioscope Sun 14 June 4pm
Mama-Demic
CT: Labia Fri 05 June 6.30pm + Q&A, Bertha Khayelitsha Sat 13 June 1pm + Q&A
JHB: Rosebank Nouveau Wed 10 June 6pm + Q&A
My Father's Son
CT: Ster-Kinekor V&A Fri 05 June 8.30pm + Q&A
JHB: Bioscope Wed 10 June 8pm + Q&A
