Running between 28 October - 1 November 2026, the Jali Film Weekender is a festival in Edinburgh celebrating Black, African and diaspora stories. Alongside film screenings and events, our second edition will once again showcase a special Extended Reality (XR) Exhibition, this year at our our brand new venue Traverse Theatre.

Location: Traverse Theatre Foyer / Saltire Court

The exhibition is open daily, 11:00 – 18:00, during the festival and is free to access.

Further expanding this year’s Weekender theme of Rebellion through reclamation, spirituality and alternative ways of understanding the world, the 2026 XR Exhibition brings together three immersive works from Benin/South Africa, Kenya and the United States. The exhibition presents the European Premiere of Honme, which restores stolen royal artefacts and a kingdom’s spiritual inheritance; the Scottish Premiere of Blackstar Sanctuary, which reclaims ancient African history through queer divinity; and the World Premiere of The Wizard of Kitui Presents: Heart, Fortune & Power, which playfully invites audiences to seek answers beyond the expected. Together, the works look to ancestral knowledge, ritual and imagination to challenge dominant histories and paths of knowledge.

Click images below for more information.