The Top 30 African Movies of 2022

When the remains of an apartheid-era policeman are discovered 60 years after he went missing, a retired singer revisits her past to help with the investigation. But how much does she know, and what is she holding back?

Every year, top law students from all over Africa meet in Botswana to compete in litigation. In the competition, they act as both prosecutors and defense in a fictional case about the rights of refugees. Here, students are forced to challenge their previous ideas about human rights in pursuit of the prestigious award.

Otile, a poor 'bodaboda' rider is jobless ten years down the line after graduating with second-class honors degree in automotive engineering. When election violence erupts after the disputed Kenyan presidential elections, Otile leads other rioters in the streets of Kisumu.

On the last day of their high school career, 4 friends from Duncan Village go on a life-defining road trip, by stealing a taxi and heading to the remote landmark of 'Hole in the Wall', where Xhosa legend has it you can talk to the dead.

A mother trying to cope the loss of her son gradually distances herself from her husband; a criminal introduces his son to a life of living by his wits; and a young woman taking care of ailing father she never truly loved.

Driven by the thirst for revenge, an invincible bandit exerts a reign of terror on the fictional Kingdom of Ajeromi.

Shot in Belgium and in Congo, JUWAA is a subtlety powerful drama based on African characters rarely seen on screens. Years after a traumatic night, a son and a mother slowly reveal all the layers redefining what they mean to each other.

As peace in South Sudan hangs in the balance, a mother and her two daughters return home from exile. The mother's mission is to safeguard her late husband's vision while her daughters struggle with what it means to call South Sudan home.

Follows three young freedom fighters who seek refuge in a South African bank in Silverton, and take the bank and its customers hostage and would only release them in exchange for the release of Nelson Mandela.

The filmmaker turns the camera on himself and his friends, capturing their everyday life as students of Bangui University. At once clear-eyed and poetic, they share their thoughts about their future in the Central African Republic.

The Beecroft family are ready to spend all of Chief Daddy's inheritance, but not if the CEO of his company has anything to do with it.

A mother decides it's high time she had grandchildren, and begins interfering in the lives of her son and daughter-in-law.

Ready to pop the question to his girlfriend, a young man finds his plans for a romantic dinner interrupted when his overdramatic ex shows up uninvited.

In pursuit of their mothers approval, three privileged and spoilt sisters find love,lose it and rediscover themselves.

The film follows the lives of Eddy, Jite and Osiano, three ambitious young men in their late twenties struggling to make it in life. Tired of being looked down upon, they embark on a relentless quest for the high life, chasing easy money, fast cars, and fame; willing to do whatever it takes no matter what it costs them.

A former drug smuggler is hired by the US Government to work for them, leaving everything she loves behind. But when an activist group kidnaps her best friend's child, she is blackmailed into doing their bidding.

It tells the story of Saro, a man seeking for greener pasture, but unfolding events and his affair with the king's wife, he encounters his untimely death and with Akala, a mystical bird believed to give and take life.

Samuel forsakes his harsh religious upbringing to live his own life but his soul remains caught between the world and the faith he left behind.

An Afro-Portuguese pair navigates through the ropes of their unresolved love affair and their Black Portuguese identity.

As a young man, Ike Nnaebue tried to flee to Europe. Twenty years later, he retraces the steps of his journey back then to find out what motivates people today to expose themselves to the dangers of a passage into an uncertain future.

• March 2014. Filmmaker Sihle Hlophe has just gotten engaged. A few days later, her father passes away. Sihle is in a serious fix - who will receive the Lobola now that her father is no more? Sihle respects Lobola but she has reservations about the transactional, patriarchal and heteronormative elements of the practise. In an effort to learn more about Lobola before making her final decision, Sihle attends the Lobola ceremonies of three other couples. Couple No.1 is a Zulu couple from Katlehong, Gauteng. The negotiations are almost halted when the groom's family fails to raise the amount requested by the bride's family. Couple No. 2 is from Tokoza, Gauteng. The groom is Tsonga and the bride is Sotho. Their cultures collide during the negotiations, making it abundantly clear that they have different understandings of what Lobola is and how it should be conducted. Couple No.3's wedding took place in Eastern Cape but they're based in Kwa Zulu Natal. The bride is Xhosa and the groom is Zulu. Even though the bride's father passed away 20 years ago, he was honoured as if he was alive during the proceedings. Sihle also visits a same-sex couple who've been married for 14 years. They were the first couple to get married under the Civil Union Act in 2006. They're deeply rooted in African Spirituality so it was imperative for them to go through the Lobola process too. After years of vacillating, Sihle comes to an important realisation - Lobola is not just about uniting two families. It is also about honouring the ancestors of those two families. What will her final decision be? Will she turn her back on Lobola or will she embrace it?

Zoom into the very soul of a man working the garbage truck 12 hours a day in the chaotic city battling a mental set back when he loses a son.

17 Year old Phuzi is chasing his dream of being a kwaito star but Gaza has a different plan for him. In a world dominated by gangs and crime Phuzi finds himself implicated in the murder of a local tuck-shop owner.

• AYAANLE is a 21 year old, young man living in Nairobi who aspires to become an actor and reach Hollywood. Despite his conservative upbringing and coming from an impoverished background, he remains optimistic about making it in the film industry and hopes to emulate his hero Denzel Washington. His life is turned upside down after a series of unlikely events that lead him to becoming the most wanted man in Kenya and in connection with terror activities across East Africa. The nightmare starts with a corrupt police squad arresting him without due cause. His mother has to use the entire family savings to bail him out of jail leaving the family facing hard times. In his desperation to recoup the funds, Ayaanle is coerced by a friend to join a hoax that he is orchestrating in order to make some quick money. A news crew from the global news network GNN are in Nairobi to film a story about the activities of terror networks in East Africa. The real terror group are unwilling to provide interviews, a Friend and Ayaanle conspire to hoodwink the news crew and pretend to be members of the terror group for the purposes of the interview in order to exact some money from the news team. Unfortunately for Ayaanle, the crooked policemen who arrested him earlier also end up viewing the news item and recognize him straight away. The cops end up frantically searching for Ayaanle and his team all over Eastleigh, terrorizing the neighborhood with the reward money from the Americans in mind; they want to get to him first before anyone else does. After his arrest, he's taken to a special site where he meets the real extremists where he becomes radicalized and ready to settle scores.

THE ALMAJIRI is a movie that is based on true stories as it affects millions of children in Nigeria and other countries who are victims of trafficking and other forms of child slavery as we saw with Nafisat and Salihu, two young children who were separated from their parents from childhood by the cruel business of Alhaji Makarfi. The gullible villagers believe him, love him and even revere him higher than the chiefs in the North. He is showered with gifts, praise, some villagers even go the extra mile to sell their valuables to offer him bribes just to get their wards enlisted for his scholarship scheme, unknown to them that none of their children ever gets to see the wall of a school let alone have the liberty of pursuing a trade. They are beaten, brainwashed and force to become prostitutes, suicide bombers and ALMAJIRIS.

An opinionated student embarks on a self appointed mission to unravel a mystery that overtakes an all-girls boarding school but she is grossly ill-prepared for the evil that lurks within.

African researcher believing in the spiritual connections between the dead and the living is put to a test when she loses her newly wedded husband. she is set to practice customs to bring back his GHOST. Her life is torn into threads when the returned spirit doesn't behave as expected

As proof of Ayele's dignity as a cultured woman from the Ga tribe of Ghana, she is recklessly determined in the ninth month of her pregnancy to have her boyfriend, Dela, a man from the Ewe tribe of Ghana whom she lives with pay her bride price before she births their child as custom demands.

Ojemba is struggling with money and cannot pay his wife's hospital bill. However, he gets a break and becomes unbelievably tight with his money. With Nkem Owoh. Concludes in 'Stingy Man'.

A teenage beggar must defy an age-long myth to regain her freedom.