Kenya’s NBO Film Festival is fast becoming one of the festivals to watch in Africa for the calibre of films in its line-up. Building on the bar it set in 2024 when it returned after a three-year hiatus, the 2025 edition, running from 16–26 October, showcases a strong selection from Kenya and across the continent.
Now in its 6th edition, the festival has selected the Kenyan documentary How to Build a Library by Maia Lekow and Christopher King as its opening film, marking its Kenyan premiere after debuting at Sundance 2025 earlier in the year.
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The lineup includes over 26 films from over 15 countries, featuring world premieres, African debuts, and celebrated international titles.
For the first time, the festival is introducing an In-Competition section with five films – My Father’s Shadow (Nigeria), Memory of Princess Mumbi (Kenya), Promised Sky (Tunisia), The Fisherman (Ghana) and The Dog (Kenya) – which will be judged by an independent jury led by Wanuri Kahiu as Jury President, alongside Elsaphan Njora, Carol Kioko and Mumbi Kaigwa.
The 2025 edition also presents a dynamic short film showcase in collaboration with Docubox’s Shorts, Shorts and Shots, and a special focus on Afro-Latin American cinema.
Alongside screenings, the industry programme will feature workshops, artist-to-artist conversations, and pitching sessions with international buyers and distributors, creating pathways for Kenyan and African filmmakers to share their stories with global audiences.
“For East Africans, storytelling has always been the cornerstone of our cultural practice, and we are increasingly seeing how that translates into the kinds of films we want to make today,” says Festival Director Sheba Hirst. “The NBO Film Festival exists to amplify those voices to the rest of the world and to bring them into dialogue with storytellers globally.”
Sinema Focus will be on the ground to bring you full coverage of the 10-day festival, taking place across three venues: Prestige Cinema, Unseen Cinema, and Kaloleni Social Hall.
But first, here’s our selection of 18 must-watch African films from this year’s line-up.
How to Build a Library | Kenya, USA | 2025
Directors: Maia Lekow, Christopher King
Finally making its Kenyan premiere, How to Build a Library follows two fearless women, Angela Wachuka and Shiro Koinange, as they transform a former whites-only library – Nairobi’s McMillan Memorial Library – into a vibrant cultural hub.
The film made its world premiere at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival where it was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize, World Cinema – Documentary.
Lekow and King are also known for The Letter, Kenya’s submission to the 2021 Oscars.
Memory of Princess Mumbi | Kenya/Switzerland/Saudi Arabia | 2025
Director: Damien Hauser
Memory of Princess Mumbi, from Swiss-Kenyan filmmaker Damien Hauser (After the Long Rains), is a dystopian feature blending sci-fi and documentary. Set in the fictional African country of Umata in 2093, it recounts a love triangle between a film director (Abraham Joseph), an aspiring actress (Shandy Daisy) and a prince (Samson Waithaka).
Memory of Princess Mumbi premiered in competition at 2025 Venice’s parallel section Giornate degli Autori, making it the first-ever Kenyan feature to be selected in this category. Thereafter, it screened as a Centrepiece title at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival, and will be heading to BFI London in October. NBO marks its Kenyan premiere.
Read Our Review: Damien Hauser’s Sci-Fi Experiment Shines With Authentic Sincerity
Widow Champion | Kenya | 2025
Director: Zippy Kimundu
After her 2024 documentary Our Land, Our Freedom, Zippy Kimundu returns with Widow Champion. The documentary follows a subjugated group of widows who have lost rights to their inherited land hence turning to Rodah Nafula Wekesa – the Widow Champion. Set in rural Kenya, where tribalism and patriarchal traditions dominate, the film captures a fierce struggle for justice and resistance.
The film premiered at Tribeca in June 2025, and NBO will mark its Kenyan premiere.
Read Our Review: ‘Widow Champion’ Is Patient, Precise and Piercing
My Father’s Shadow | Nigeria, UK | 2025
Director: Akinola Davies Jr
In his feature debut, Akinola Davies’s My Father’s Shadow tells the story of two young brothers exploring Lagos with their estranged father during the 1993 Nigerian election crisis. The film is led by British-Nigerian actor Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù, known for Gangs of London and Slow Horses.
My Father’s Shadow made history in 2025 as the first Nigerian title in the Cannes Film Festival’s Official Selection, premiering in the Un Certain Regard section where it won a Special Mention for the Caméra d’Or.
The Fisherman | Ghana | 2024
Director: Zoey Martinson
Developed from her 2018 short of the same name, Zoey Martinson’s feature debut The Fisherman follows an aging fisherman whose life changes when he meets a talking fish while at sea. Together with three others, they set out on an adventurous journey across Accra, chasing their shared dream of owning a fishing boat.
The Fisherman made history in 2024 as Ghana’s first official selection at the Venice Film Festival, where it won the CICT-UNESCO Enrico Fulchignoni Prize.
The Eyes of Ghana | United States | 2025
Director: Ben Proudfoot
Even though it’s an American documentary, The Eyes of Ghana is very much an African story. It follows 93-year-old Ghanaian filmmaker Chris Hesse, the personal cinematographer to Kwame Nkrumah, as he races against blindness and time to recover and restore Ghana’s cinematic history.
The Eyes of Ghana is directed by two-time Oscar winner Ben Proudfoot and executive produced by Barack and Michelle Obama.
Promised Sky | Tunisia, Qatar, France | 2025
Director: Erige Sehiri
In Tunisia, a country that has become hostile to African immigrants, three Ivorian women from different generations fight for a better life in Erige Sehiri’s drama Promised Sky. This is the second feature from the French-Tunisian filmmaker following her 2022 film Under the Fig Trees, Tunisia’s submission to the 2023 Oscars.
Promised Sky opened the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes 2025.
Matabeleland | Zimbabwe | 2025
Director: Nyasha Kadandara
Produced by Sam Soko (Softie), Nyasha Kadandara, in her feature debut, guides this documentary seven years in the making that offers a deeply personal look at a man’s struggle with historical trauma, set against the backdrop of African manhood and resilience.
Chris Nyathi, a Zimbabwean immigrant living in Botswana, is a man haunted by his father’s unburied spirit – a victim of a victim of Robert Mugabe’s Gukurahundi genocide. As he seeks closure, he’s forced to confront both past horrors and his own troubled legacy.
Read Our Review: ‘Matabeleland’ Carries the Past, Confronts the Present and Cradles the Future
Mother City | South Africa | 2024
Directors: Miki Redelinghuys, Pearlie Jourbet
The story of Mother City, aptly named after the setting of its story – Cape Town – starts when the government sells a school meant for affordable housing to private developers.
Filmed over six years, this is a David vs Goliath battle as activists and domestic workers confront power and politics in a city still defined by spatial apartheid.
Memories of Love Returned | Uganda, USA | 2024
Director: Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine
Filmed across two decades, Memories of Love Returned is a tribute to Ugandan photographer Kibaate Aloysius Ssalongo, while exploring the complex social dynamics of the small village where Ssalongo lived and worked.
The documentary is directed by American-Ugandan filmmaker and actor Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine and executive produced by Steven Soderbergh.
The Shadow Scholars | Kenya, UK | 2024
Director: Eloise King
Investigative documentary The Shadow Scholars follows Oxford professor Patricia Kingori as she delves into Kenya’s ghostwriting economy, uncovering how essay mills in Nairobi fuel academic fraud in Western institutions. The film is executive produced by Steve McQueen and Kingori, the British-Kenyan professor who is the youngest Black female professor to be tenured at Oxford.
Read Our Review: African Solutions to Western Problems, But at What Cost?
Khartoum | Sudan | 2025
Directors: Anas Saeed, Rawia Alhag, Ibrahim Snoopy Ahmad, Timeea Mohamed Ahmed, Philip Cox
Khartoum documents the lives of five Sudanese citizens – a civil servant, a tea lady, a resistance committee volunteer, and two street boys – who are forced to flee the country for East Africa following civil unrest.
The film made its world premiere at Sundance 2025 where it was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize (World Cinema – Documentary). It also screened at the 2025 Berlin International Film Festival in the Panorama section, winning the Film Peace Prize.
Aisha Can’t Fly Away | Egypt, Sudan, Tunisia, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Germany | 2025
Director: Morad Mostafa
One of the African films that premiered at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival in the Un Certain Regard section, Morad Mostaafa’s feature debut Aisha Can’t Fly Away follows a Sudanese caregiver living in Cairo who finds herself caught between a local gang and her hopes for a safer, more stable life.
The Dog | Kenya, Sweden | 2024
Director: Baker Karim
The Kenyan-Swedish thriller premiered in competition at the Africa International Film Festival (AFRIFF) 2024 in Lagos, where lead actor Alexander Karim won a Globe Award for Best Male Performance. At AFRIFF, the film was also nominated for Best Film and Best Director for the Ugandan-born Swedish director Baker Karim. After more almost a year, NBO marks its Kenyan premiere.
Filmed entirely in Mombasa, The Dog follows a small-time drug dealer’s attempt to protect a young escort who doesn’t want to be saved.
The People Shall | Kenya | 2025
Directors: Nick Wambugu, Mark Maina
In June 2024, protests erupted in Kenya against the Finance Bill 2024, quickly turning into a nationwide movement. The People Shall follows seven powerful voices from this youth-led uprising united by grief, rage and digital resistance, and highlights the role of young people and women in mobilising one of the most powerful movements in recent Kenyan history.
Mothers of Chibok | Nigeria | 2024
Director: Joel Kachi Benson
Ten years after Boko Haram abducted 276 girls from a school in Chibok, Mothers of Chibok revisits the tragedy through the eyes of the mothers who continue to fight to educate their remaining children.
The film won the Encounters Al Jazeera Award for Best African Feature Documentary at the 2025 Encounters South African International Documentary Festival.
The Weekend | Nigeria | 2024
Director: Daniel Oriahi
Nigerian horror-thriller The Weekend follows a woman who uncovers dark secrets about her in-laws when she pressures her fiancé to reconnect with his estranged family.
The Weekend premiered at the 2024 Tribeca Film Festival, and topped the 2024 Africa Movie Academy Awards (AMAA) with 16 nominations, including Best Film, Best Director, and Achievement in Cinematography.
Sayari | Kenya | 2025
Director: Omar Hamza
From Giza Visuals, Sayari tells the story of a struggling BnB manager in Tigoni, whose quiet life is disrupted by a runaway groom. The romcom is led by Muhugu Theuri (Crime and Justice) and Lucarelli Onyango (Stero), with Gitura Kamau (Shimoni) and Eddy Kimani (Country Queen) also starring.
Read Our Review: A Cheesy but Charming Rom-Com Carried by Its Leads’ Chemistry
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