26 to 28 Oct 2026
Labia Theater
Cape Town
We’re pleased to invite you to join us for the first AfrikaBurn Film Festival.
While AfrikaBurn may inspire you to quit your job as a lawyer and build art in the middle of the desert, it also inspires filmmakers from around the world to undertake the ‘you must be nuts’ process of creating moving art that lives beyond the Binnekring and on a cinema screen.
This film festival celebrates the artists and creatives who are brave enough to venture into Tankwa Town, including those who are armed with nothing but a camera and a media pass.
Both main feature films will be preceded by other AfrikaBurn short films … made by you!
The lovebox experience
26 October 2026
20:30 pm
In 2023, the Lovebox Experience landed at AfrikaBurn, part spaceship, part art project, resulting in an intimate documentary about love, vulnerability, human connection, and the radical possibility of truly meeting one another in a divided world.
Whether or not you took part in this experiment yourself, you’ll be fascinated to see how the Lovebox shows our openness to others and the different ways we are all seen.Â
This is how the world ends
28 October 2026
20:30 pm
In 2024, inspired by his experience the previous year as a participant at AfrikaBurn, Rob Dos Santos and his team decided to do something that had never been done before: to make a scripted feature film … during the event, with a spontaneous mix of actors and volunteer participants.
This Is How The World Ends was written after Rob’s first AfrikaBurn, and this film is the amazing result. Rob’s story is as much a triumph of filmmaking as it is of creativity in the desert … with no room for retakes when you’re trying to film in a Karoo sandstorm.
Have you got a short film you'd like to share and be shown at the festival?
We’ve also seen lots of great short films made by our participants over the years, often giving a unique perspective into Tankwa Town life.
If you’ve made a short film that you’re proud of and would like to have it on the big screen, we’re inviting you to submit it to be shown ahead of the main festival features.
These films should be between 3 and 4 minutes long and either shot at AfrikaBurn, involve programmes of AfrikaBurn or be inspired by AfrikaBurn.
To submit your short film for consideration, please send a viewing link to media@afrikaburn.com before the end of September 2026.
Photo: Jonx Pillemer