Clarissa (Film Africa)

Premiered at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival in the Directors' Fortnight section. The acclaimed drama is a modern-day, Lagos-set adaptation of Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway.The film follows society woman Clarissa as she prepares to host a party at her home in Lagos, Nigeria, where she will unexpectedly encounter once-intimate friends from her youth. As the group reflects on their shared past over the course of a single night, memories of their intricate relationships, passionate love, hidden desires, and lost aspirations give rise to bittersweet reckoning.

Film Africa 2026, the Royal African Society’s annual celebration of African cinema, returns to London from 23 October to 1 November 2026, bringing together a vibrant selection of new voices, established filmmakers and essential works from across Africa and its diasporas.

Opening and closing at BFI Southbank, the festival will present films and events at venues across London and beyond, including the Rio Cinema, The Lexi Cinema, Ebonylife Cinema, Cine Lumiere, Riverside Studios, Watershed in Bristol and Plymouth Arts Cinema. The programme spans contemporary features, documentaries and shorts, alongside special retrospectives and conversations that explore the histories, experiences and creative possibilities of African cinema.

Among the festival highlights is a special screening and conversation celebrating the work of Tunisian filmmaker, critic, historian and scholar Ferid Boughedir at the Cine Lumiere. His pioneering documentaries Caméra d’Afrique and Caméra Arabe remain landmark works in the study of African and Arab cinemas, combining historical documentation with Boughedir’s distinctive critical perspective.