The Ladima Foundation has named five films from Algeria, Egypt, Kenya, and South Africa as the shortlist for the 2026 edition of the Adiaha Award for Best Documentary by an African Woman Filmmaker, with the winner to be announced in June 2026.
The announcement, made on Monday, March 24, follows what the foundation described as a record number of submissions for this eighth edition of the award, with a notably strong showing from North African filmmakers. The five shortlisted films will now advance to an all-woman jury for the final determination.
The shortlisted works span a wide range of subjects and geographies. From Algeria, Leila Artese Benhadj’s Tin Hinan, The Last Nomad follows a personal journey into the Sahara to trace family origins through the lives of two Tuareg women navigating the transition between nomadic and settled life. Egypt contributes two films: Fayza Harby Bemmann’s The Last Letter to Nasser, which examines the human cost of state-led infrastructure projects on the Nubian community through the lens of one woman’s memories of her flooded village, and Yomna Khattab’s 50 Meters, a first-time director’s intimate exploration of a father-daughter relationship set across a Cairo swimming pool. From Kenya, Sleeping Warrior, directed by Janet Wells and produced by Nina Ruiz, documents the journey of Africa’s first female lacrosse team from their homes to the World Championships in Canada. South Africa’s entry is And She Didn’t Die, directed by Kethiwe Zandile Ngcobo, a hybrid documentary tracing the life of her mother, Lauretta Ngcobo, from rural storyteller to feminist writer and political exile.
Selection Committee member Theresa Hill, Deputy Director at STEPS (Social Transformation and Empowerment Projects), said she was struck by the depth and range of the submissions, noting that many of the films wrestled with questions of identity, belonging, and how communities honour those who came before them.
The winner will receive a $2,000 cash prize and an invitation to screen their film at Afrikamera, Current Cinema from Africa, a Berlin-based non-profit film festival that has promoted intercultural dialogue between the African continent and Germany since 2007. The Afrikamera partnership is new to this edition of the award and provides the winning filmmaker with international exposure alongside networking and media opportunities in Germany.
The Adiaha Award takes its name from the Ibibio word for first daughter, spoken in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. The award was inaugurated in 2018 with the aim of recognising and supporting African women telling stories through documentary film. Previous winners include Miki Redelinghuys and Pearlie Joubert for Mother City in 2025, Zippy Kimundu and Meena Nanji for Our Land, Our Freedom in 2024, and Cyrielle Raingou for Le Spectre de Boko Haram in 2023.
The Ladima Foundation is a not-for-profit organisation registered in South Africa and Tanzania, founded in 2018 to address gender imbalances within the African film, television, and content industries.
