Your Autumn Guide to Black Cinema, ahead of the 70th BFI London Film Festival. By Tessa Lwanga
London’s film calendar just got injected with some serious soul. As the capital gears up for the 70th BFI London Film Festival (LFF) from 7th to 18th October 2026, BFI Southbank has dropped its September and early October programme. Consider this your warm up act for LFF, a chance to catch some of the year’s most important Black British programming before the festival crowds descend.
As the weather cools down, there’s nothing better than getting cosy with a good film at BFI Southbank ahead of the 70th London Film Festival. If you’re the kind of Londoner or traveller who plans your month around culture, here’s what to put in your diary.
S.O.U.L. Fest Returns for Its 8th Year
The headline act for Black film lovers is S.O.U.L. Fest, running from 11th to 13th September 2026 at BFI Southbank, in partnership with the American Black Film Festival. Now in its eighth year, S.O.U.L. Fest is one of the UK’s most important showcases for Black British cinema. It’s a full weekend of features, shorts and industry events that doesn’t just screen films, it builds community around them.
Expect three days of standout British filmmaking, plus two industry panels open to anyone curious about how the next generation of Black creatives is breaking into the business. The panels sponsored by Sony Pictures Entertainment are From Shadow to Set, on 12th September 2026, with Left Bank Pictures and Beyond the Screen, on 13th September 2026, with Crunchyroll.
The weekend wraps with the S.O.U.L. Fest Short Film Programme on 13th September. Eight new works by Black British filmmakers covering everything from faith and identity to friendship and memory. This will be followed by the Short Film Awards and a closing party. Bookmark this in your diary early to show up for the celebration of the season.
Opening Night: The Kwame Brathwaite Story
S.O.U.L. Fest opens on 11th September 2026, with “Black Is Beautiful: The Kwame Brathwaite Story,” directed by Yemi Bamiro. London was chosen for its World Premiere at the 69th BFI London Film Festival in 2025, where it won the Audience Award for Best British Discovery.
Kwame Brathwaite, was the photographer behind some of the most iconic images of Black life and culture of his era. Documenting parts of Black History in America and fighting for freedom and independence in Africa. An advocate for celebrating natural hair as a crown, a core value of Mulage Magazine and a value at the heart of the Grandassa Models and AJASS (African Jazz-Art Society & Studios), which he co-founded.
The film features insights from Alicia Keys and her husband Swizz Beatz, alongside Gabrielle Union and Jesse Williams, and their involvement is worth noting. When artists of that calibre put their name behind a project, it’s usually worth your time.
You’ll get to see portraits of Stevie Wonder, Muhammad Ali and Nina Simone amongst other Black icons in this film. Be warned that the film includes poignant archival imagery of Emmett Till, which is quite graphic, but is essential to understand why Brathwaite dedicated his life to the images he made. It can be difficult to sit with if you’re not expecting it, but consider this your warning on that element so that you can enjoy the film as a whole. A film honouring Black history, from the Apollo Theater in Harlem, New York, to African states needing liberation. This is exactly the kind of film that plays even better in a room full of people who get why it matters.
Sarah Maldoror: The Filmmaker History Almost Erased
Running alongside S.O.U.L. Fest is a full season dedicated to Sarah Maldoror, one of the first Black women to direct feature films and a key figure in anti-colonial, pan-African cinema. Titled “A Poet with a Camera,” the season is curated by Maldoror’s own daughter, Annouchka de Andrade, and gives London audiences rare access to a body of work that’s spent decades without getting the viewings it deserved.
Two dates worth knowing:
2nd September 2026, “Poetry in My Soul”: the season’s launch event, with de Andrade, unpacking the political and artistic choices behind her mother’s films, alongside a set of rarely screened shorts including a brief portrait of Joan Miró, a filmed performance piece featuring Louis Aragon reading a text by Jean Ristat, and a portrait of Guyanese poet and politician Léon-Gontran Damas.
3rd September 2026, “Sarah Maldoror Herself”: an intimate evening featuring a Anne-Laure Folly’s 1999 documentary portrait of Maldoror entitled “Sarah Maldoror Ou La Nostalgie de L’Utopie”, filmed Q&As, and a live reading of a 1959 interview she conducted with Marguerite Duras in 1959.
The season’s centrepiece is Sambizanga (1972), Maldoror’s landmark anti-colonial drama, screening alongside eight programmes of her shorts. Maldoror also worked behind the scenes on three major films you’ll be able to catch this month: Gillo Pontecorvo’s The Battle of Algiers, Chris Marker’s Sans Soleil, and William Klein’s The Pan-African Festival of Algiers, all featuring footage and contributions from Maldoror herself.
Why This Matters Right Now
Black cinema doesn’t always get the theatrical push it deserves, and archives like Brathwaite’s, or filmmakers like Maldoror, whose work genuinely risked being lost to history, need audiences showing up in person to keep that legacy visible. Buying a ticket isn’t just a night out, it’s a small, direct way of backing the people telling these stories and the venues platforming them.
Dates for Your Diary
| Date | Event |
| 2nd September 2026 | Poetry in My Soul (Sarah Maldoror season launch) |
| 3rd September 2026 | Sarah Maldoror Herself |
| 11th September 2026 | S.O.U.L. Fest opens: Black Is Beautiful: The Kwame Brathwaite Story |
| 12th September 2026 | From Shadow to Set (industry panel) |
| 13th September 2026 | Beyond the Screen (industry panel) plus S.O.U.L. Fest Short Film Programme and Awards |
Tickets
BFI Patrons get first access to buy tickets from 3rd August 2026, Members from 4th August 2026, and general sale opens 6th August 2026.
S.O.U.L. Fest opening night tends to move fast so keep en eye on the BFI Southbank What’s On page for these to go live, and set a reminder.
Looking Ahead to 70th BFI London Film Festival
The September programme is really the appetiser. The 70th BFI London Film Festival running from 7th to 18th October 2026 is the main event. Bringing hundreds of premieres, galas and Black British and international filmmaking to screens across the capital. If this line up has whetted your appetite, head to the official BFI London Film Festival site to follow the full programme as it’s announced and get ahead of ticket releases.
About the BFI
The BFI is a cultural charity, a distributor of National Lottery funding, and the UK’s leading body for film and the moving image. Its mission centres on five key aims: nurturing the next generation of UK storytellers; preserving and expanding the BFI National Archive, the largest film and television archive in the world; bringing the broadest possible range of UK and international screen culture to audiences, both online and in person; deepening public understanding of film through education; and partnering with government and industry to support the ongoing growth of Britain’s screen sector.
Established in 1933, the BFI operates as a registered charity under Royal Charter, with its Board of Governors chaired by Jay Hunt, OBE.
BFI Southbank is located on Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XT, United Kingdom.