10 Films to See at the 2025 New African Film Festival

For over two decades, the New African Film Festival has prided itself on platforming the best of African filmmaking. Presented by AFI and the Africa World Now Project, the festival returns to Washington, D.C.,for its 21st edition over two weeks, starting from March 14.

This year’s selection spans 29 films from 19 African countries, opening with the historical dramaNo Chains No Masters and closing on the final day with the warm friendship fare Where the Wind Comes From.

In between is a roster of films with great premises for festivalgoers to immerse themselves in, including Samia, inspired by the life and trials of Somali Olympian Samia Yusuf; theOscar-nominated, sprawling Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat, a documentary onthe origins of the Congo crisis; the Uzoamaka Aniunoh-ledmystery thrillerThe Weekend, and much, much more.

Below, we spotlight 10 films that should be on the radar of those attending this year’s New African Film Festival.

‘Dahomey’

Mati Diop’s history-making,Golden Bear-winning documentary feature, Dahomey, follows the restitution of 26 artifacts forcefully taken by France in the 19th century as they return to the Republic of Benin. The film does more than celebrate this feat; it’s an inquisitive look into the true meaning of restitution while the lasting effects of colonialism and neocolonialism are still evident today. From its animistic elements to fierce debates among young Beninese reckoning with the very pillaged soul of their country, Dahomey isa riveting cultural journey.

‘Disco Afrika: A Malagasy Story’

Inspired by the moods, fashion and civil rights movements of the 1970s, Luck Razanajaona’s Disco Afrika: A Malagasy Story isan engrossing portrayal of being torn between personal wants and communal needs. 20-year-old Kwame works in the clandestine sapphire mines, where he struggles to make a living. He returns home, reunites with his mother and friends, and faces the norm of corruption and cutting corners head-on. Parista Sambo’s turn as Kwame is as invigorating as the palmwine music and highlife grooves that waft through the film.

‘Everybody Loves Touda’

Nabil Ayouch’s Everybody Loves Touda, selected asMorocco’s recent Oscars entry, is about the young singer Touda, who dreams of becoming a famed folk singer, partly to give her deaf son a better life. Between her small town and her eventual move to Casablanca, Touda has to deal with patronizing men, who only see her as a sexual object, and club owners who have a strict vision of what she can do. Nisrin Erradi turns in a powerful performance as the lead character, enlivening the screen with radiant energy during the musical performance, but it is in the somber moments that she holds viewers in an affecting haze.

‘Hanami’

Hanami is a coming-of-age film, but it’s also more than that. Nana (Sanaya Andrade) is a young girl living in Fogo, Cape Verde, a volcanic island with black sand beaches. Just after birth, her mother, Nia (Alice da Luz), left Cape Verde for a better life, and now a young teenager, Nana has to grapple with emigration being front and center of every young person’s life in her country. Denise Fernandes’ film is a ruminative effort on the emotional and spiritual aspects of exiting your home as the best option a person has as soon as they’re born. Hanami feels its way through longing and a warmth that is familial and familiar.

‘How to Build A Library’

The complexity of Africa’s colonial history is as animate as those of us living through it. That’s the central crux ofHow to Build A Library. This vibrant documentary feature centers on the efforts of novelist Wanjiru “Shiro” Koinange and publisher Angela Wachuka in reclaiming the McMillan Memorial Library, which was once a whites-only space. Directed by Maia Lekow and Christopher King, the film walks viewers through the arduous work undertaken by these two Kenyan women as they battle timeline crunches, funding issues and other challenges to transform a colonial relic into a new community-oriented space called Book Bunk.

‘Joe Bullet’

Under apartheid, Black people virtually had no political liberties, a situation that extended to stifled creative licenses. Joe Bullet, one of the first South African films with an all-Black cast, was banned shortly after its release in 1973. Still, local screenings andshowings at international festivals in recent years have highlighted it as an important touchstone for African cinema. An action film with its macho titular lead (the late Ken Gampu), the film centers on a shadowy mobster trying to fix a final match in a big football competition; however, more than that, it gave Black South Africans leeway to imagine themselves as more than victims of a racist system.

‘Nawi’

There’s a magnetic edge that Michelle Lemuya brings toNawi as its titular lead, pulling viewers into rooting for a young girl whose dreams of being educated are gravely threatened by an arranged marriage. Nawi, a 13-year-old, is a star student with a bright future, but she’s betrothed to a much older stranger by her father. The dowry is too much to pass for her family, who are in dire material need. Nawi flees on her wedding night, but the reality of the escape is more complicated than her fight for personal freedom, as obligation hangs over her head and must be resolved.

‘No Chains, No Masters’

Set in 18th-century Mauritius, under French colonial rule, No Chains, No Masters is a story of disillusionment withering in the face of reckless hope. As with stories like these, love is the catalyst. Working on sugarcane plantations is what Massamba (Ibrahima Ndiaye) has known all his life, which means he’s resigned to his fate. His daughter Mati (Anna Diakhere Thiandoum) believes there’s more to life, and she escapes, a decision that puts her in the crosshairs of a ruthless slave owner. Seeing the danger his child is in, Massamba shakes off his resignation to find Mati and keep her safe.

‘On Becoming a Guinea Fowl’

Zambian Welsh filmmaker Rungano Nyoni’s sophomore film, On Becoming a Guinea Fowl, is incredibly riveting. It’s a film that simmers and jumps alternately, asurrealist gem about a younger generation confronting their conflicted relationships with the traditions they’ve been handed down by their elders. Shula (Susan Chardy) finds her uncle’s dead body on the road, and the performance of grief by older women leads to hard-earned admissions, the excavation of secrets, and an unearthing of traumas. The plot is serious, but Nyoni makes sure the film doesn’t take itself too seriously, underlining her deft hand as a maker of great films.

‘Where the Wind Comes From’

For her debut feature film, Where the Wind Comes From, Tunisian filmmaker Amel Guellaty creates a warm and affecting ode to the vibrant irreverence of youth and the bonds that coalesce around it. Alyssa (Eya Bellagha) and Mehdi (Slim Baccar) have been best friends since childhood, both dreamers in their own ways, with hopes of living abroad in the near future. When Alyssa discovers an art contest perfect for Mehdi — the winner gets a residency in Germany — the pair embark on a long road trip to the southern part of Tunisia, relying on their resourcefulness and invaluable emotional bond to brave striking bus drivers and their lack of a car.