Curated Programme
Music
The Bala Family with the Masicule Youth Choir
NAF
A moving collaboration that celebrates unity, legacy, and the power of music across generations.
Comedy
Very Big Comedy Show
TAYLORMADE PRODUCTIONS
Makhanda's biggest stage. South Africa's biggest names. One night only.
Theatre
The Cry Of Winnie Mandela
Market Theatre
Hearty, haunting, and critical conversations reflecting on the historical struggles of women.
Dance & Physical Theatre
It’s Like a Finger Pointing a Way to the Moon
KVS
A layered performance that moves between memory, encounter, and transformation.
Dance & Physical Theatre
(Co)Ruption
Forgotten Angle Theatre Collaborative
When a human right is for sale, who really pays the price?
Dance & Physical Theatre
MAJAIVAN: A movement story of the life of Lee-Ché Janecke
Lee-Ché Janecke
An emotional interpretation of Lee-Ché Janecke’s life journey.
Music
Pulchritudinous: The Beauty of the Journey | Manana
Manana & Third Culture
A rich and expansive new soundscape.
Music
Sounds of a Black Girl
Gabi Motuba
Gabi Motuba brings a brand new ensemble to the 2026 National Arts Festival!
Theatre
Dear Museum! The Truth of the Matter it Seems Everything Was Better When We Were Not Telling the Truth
Albert Ibokwe Khoza and African Entertainer
A love letter and farewell letter to ethnological museum practice.
Theatre
The Public Servant
Mandela Bay Theatre Complex
A scalpel through the body politic and a conscience of a Civil Servant in South Africa today.
Theatre
FAMEHUNGRY
Louise Orwin
Blending live art, serious artistic enquiry, social experiment and digital chaos
Theatre
Bhayi Lam, The Musical
Mandela Bay Theatre Complex
Inspired by the music of Sizwe Zako and Pure Magic.
Visual Art
Ta a-b kobab ada kāxu-da, ti khoe-du’e
Bronwyn Katz
The retrieval of lost language through material process.
Visual Art
Stop It… Is It Not the Same Gaze?
Megan Mace
Bringing together artists to examine the dynamics of the Gaze through the lens of Sino-African connections.
Visual Art
I Hope this Finds you Well/ From the Bottom of My Black Art
Motlalepula Phukubje
Exploring how black art histories might be preserved, activated, and experienced.
Visual Art
A safe house
Brent Meistre / Analogue Eye
An autobiographical experimental film conjuring the redacted traumatic witnessing of childhood.
Theatre
The Gabrielle Goliath People's Tribunal
Theatre Duo
A series of urgent debates on political art, freedom of expression, and censorship in contemporary South Africa
Film
LOST LAND by Akio Fujimoto
Rediance Films
This intimate portrait documents one of the world's most persecuted ethnic groups.
Film
NO OTHER CHOICE by Park Chan-wook
CJ ENM Co., Ltd
A happy life is destroyed when Man-su is fired from his job.
Film
VARIATIONS ON A THEME by Jason Jacobs & Devon Delmar
Kraal Stories
A portrait of waiting, endurance, and loss.
Film
TRIAL OF HEIN by Kai Stänicke
Heretic
'At its core, it’s a personal meditation on belonging.' - Kai Stänicke
Film
EVERYBODY DIGS BILL EVANS by Grant Gee
Mister Smith Entertainment
The story of one of the most influential and gifted figures in 20th century music.
Film
SENTIMENTAL VALUE by Joachim Trier
MK2
An exploration of family dynamics where unhealed history ripples into the present.
Film
MY FATHER'S SHADOW by Akinola Davies Jr
The Match Factory
A semi-autobiographical tale set over the course of a single day in Lagos.
Performance Art
I Have a Story That Seems Like Mine
Tetembua Dandara
A performance where stories are cooked, shared, celebrated, and lived.
Music
Strings of the Nation: 30 Years of the Soweto String Quartet
Soweto String Quartet
30 years of the Soweto String Quartet
Visual Art
Holding sp(l)ace for the in____between
MTN & UJ New Contemporaries
A space where intervention and collective participation becomes possible.
Music
Concord Nkabinde with Friends | Songs that Move Us
BNAS Artist Management
A journey across continents through song.
Music
Betusile Mcinga in Concert
Betusile Mcinga
Betusile awakens Makhanda with his songs and messages.
Music
Nontokozo Mkhize and Nomfundo Moh Performance
Wawee Music Production
South Africa's beloved young voices come together for one extraordinary evening!
Music
Msaki and the ALTBLK>> Pan African Collective
National Arts Festival
A celebration of African sound and shared heritage.
Music
Thandiswa Mazwai
Thandiswa Mazwai
One of South Africa's most influential voices live in Makhanda!
