Jali Film Weekender Announces International Filmmakers and Special Guests for 2026 Edition

Top (left to right): Damilola Orimogunje, Rosie Motene, Ery Claver
Bottom (left to right): Elisee Junior St Preux, Mia Bendrimia, Simone Holland

Filmmakers and artists from Nigeria, Angola, South Africa, the US and beyond will join audiences in Edinburgh for screenings, Q&As, masterclasses and discussions across the five-day festival.

Guests include Dear Ajayi director Damilola Orimogunje, The Woman Who Poked the Leopard producer and activist Rosie Motene, The Tropic Sun and His Eyes director Elisee Junior St Preux and Angolan collective Geração 80’s Ery Claver.

Jali Collective has announced a line-up of international filmmakers, artists and special guests attending the second edition of Jali Film Weekender, taking place in Edinburgh from 28 October to 1 November 2026.

Returning to Filmhouse and expanding into the Traverse Theatre building, the five-day festival will present nearly 40 films alongside three immersive extended reality works, filmmaker conversations, Q&As and special events. Under the theme of Rebellion, the programme features work from across Africa and its global diaspora, including one world premiere, two European premieres, 12 UK premieres and 21 Scottish premieres across film and XR.

Opening the festival on 28 October, Nigerian filmmaker Damilola Orimogunje will be joined by members of the Dear Ajayi cast and crew, travelling from Nigeria for the film's UK premiere. Orimogunje’s acclaimed feature arrives in Edinburgh following its world premiere at Venice Film Festival's Giornate degli Autori, where it won the CICT-UNESCO Enrico Fulchignoni Prize – Fellini Medal. Set in 1990s southwestern Nigeria, the film follows two sisters navigating grief, faith, ambition and family.

Travelling from South Africa is award-winning producer Rosie Motene who will attend the 29 October screening of The Woman Who Poked the Leopard. Directed by Patience Nitumwesiga and presented in partnership with the Scottish Documentary Institute, the documentary receives its UK premiere at the festival and follows Ugandan poet, academic and activist Dr Stella Nyanzi in her resistance to dictatorship, patriarchy and state repression.

Angolan filmmaker Ery Claver, a member of acclaimed film collective and production company Geração 80, will join the festival for its dedicated Spotlight programme. Travelling from Angola, Claver will lead a masterclass on 29 October and participate in post-screening Q&As across the retrospective, which includes the UK premiere of Hugo Salvaterra's My Semba (Meu Semba), alongside Fradique’s Air Conditioner, and Claver’s Our Lady of the Chinese Shop and Lucia in the Sky with Traffic Lights. The focus, supported by Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation UK Branch, offers Scottish audiences a rare opportunity to engage with contemporary Angolan cinema and the filmmakers shaping its development.

Other visiting filmmakers include, Elisee Junior St Preux director of Haitian family drama The Tropic Sun and His Eyes, who will participate in a Q&A following its UK premiere screening on 29 October; abstract filmmaker and artist Simone Holland, whose Glass Bricks receives its UK premiere as part of the What We Know of Ourselves short film programme on 31 October; and Mia Bendrimia, director of Sheffield DocFest First Feature Award-winning documentary Magma, who will attend its Scottish premiere alongside members of the film crew on 1 November at 6pm.

The festival will also welcome a host of speakers and cultural practitioners contributing to panels, discussions and extended film introductions across the programme. These include musician Sean Focus; interdisciplinary artist, writer and cultural practitioner Tanatsei Gambura; founder and director of We Are Here Scotland Ica Headlam; musician Matthew Hickman (Brownbear); James McCune Smith scholar of Creative Writing at University of Glasgow Leilani Taneus-Miller; film programmer Mosa Mpetha; writer-director of Girl (Sundance 2023, BAFTA-nominated) Adura Onashile; and playwright and festival organiser Sara Shaarawi.

Following its inaugural edition in 2025, Jali Film Weekender continues its mission to widen access to African and diasporic cinema in Scotland, creating opportunities for audiences to engage directly with filmmakers and artists, and for meaningful cultural exchange centred on Black, African and diaspora communities.

Jali Film Weekender takes place across Edinburgh from 28 October to 1 November 2026. 

Full programme and tickets: www.jalicollective.co.uk/jali-film-weekender