African Movies on Netflix

by Soumaya · Published April 1, 2014 · Updated May 25, 2017

You can indeed find African movies on Netflix! They don’t have a wide palette of choices but there’s some great ones. To make your life easier from hunting, you can be sure they have the titles that is listed. Below are a couple of classic African films (or present classic) you can find on the site.

Black Girl (1966)

Working as a governess for a wealthy French family, a young Senegalese woman (Mbissine Therese Diop) accompanies her charges on a vacation to the French Riviera, where her white mistress (Anne-Marie Jelinek) suddenly expects her to do the work of a common maid. This racially charged drama from Senegalese writer-director Ousmane Sembene is often recognized as one of the seminal works of African cinema.
Cast: Mbissine Therese Diop, Anne-Marie Jelinek
Director: Ousmane Sembène
Genre:Classics
Format: DVD and streaming

Touki Bouki (1973)

Alienated from their society in Senegal, young lovers Mory and Anta fantasize about freedom far from the dusty streets of their hometown of Dakar. They long to escape, and, in their fevered imaginations, their dream city — Paris — doesn’t seem that far away. So, the couple embarks on an exhilarating adventure as they try to hustle money for their passage to a new life. Aminata Fall and Christoph Colomb star. Djibril Diop Mambety directs.
Cast: Aminata Fall, Christoph Colomb
Director: Djibril Diop Mambety
Genre:Foreign
Format: DVD

Wanderers Of The Desert (1984)

After being sent to a village in the middle of the desert, a young teacher learns that all of the village’s men have left. When images of wanderers begin appearing to him, the teacher must determine whether he’s seeing reality or just dreaming. Full of beautiful colors and landscapes, this film from writer-director Nacer Khemir uses unexplainable events to highlight the themes of legends and traditions.
Cast: Nacer Khemir, Soufiane Makni
Director: Nacer Khemir
Genre:Foreign
Format: DVD

Xala

A high-ranking official loses the respect of the community in Ousmane Sembene’s comedy. Set in a newly independent Senegal, the story centers on influential official El Hadji, who decides to take advantage of the rampant corruption by using government funds to marry his third wife. But on his wedding night, El Hadji discovers he has xala, the curse of impotence. With his virility in question, he tries a number of ridiculous and bizarre cures.
Cast: Douta Seck, Miriam Niang
Director: Ousmane Sembène
Genre:Foreign
Format: DVD and streaming

Great African Films: Vol. 1: Faraw! Mother of the Dunes (1997)

Director Abdoulaye Ascofare’s drama follows Zamiatou (Aminata Ousmane), a mother who struggles to support her family in the wake of her husband’s unjust incarceration. Life is already difficult in the desolate desert of Mali in Africa, but when her husband returns from prison a mentally and physically reduced man, Zamiatou will do anything to keep her two sons and daughter alive.

Cast: Aminata Ousmane, Balla Moussa Keita
Director: Abdoulaye Ascofare
Genre:Foreign
Format: DVD

Gimba The Tyrant (1995)

Set in the mythical kingdom of ancient Mali, Guimba is the cautionary tale of a tyrant who rules over the town of Sitkali with little mercy. Using sorcery, the tyrant completely manipulates his subjects. His single weak spot is his son, a perverse dwarf with an insatiable appetite … that includes the mother of the woman to whom he’s betrothed. Directed by Cheick Oumar Sissoko, Guimba won the grand prize at FESPACO, Africa’s premier film festival.
Cast: Balla Moussa Keita, Cheick Oumar Maiga
Director: Cheick Oumar Sissoko
Genre:Foreign
Format: DVD

Great African Films: Vol. 1: Haramuya (1995)

Drissa Toure’s drama juxtaposes the conditions of life in a city in West Africa with those of the slums surrounding it. Fousseini (Fatogoma Konate) tries to keep his family intact and is pressured by his old values along with the changing moral landscape around him. As his older son works to support the whole clan (much to the chagrin of his modern wife), the younger son meets bad influences and head down the wrong path.
Cast: Abdoulaye Kaba, Rakieta Kabore
Director: Drissa Toure
Genre:Foreign
Format: DVD

The Battle Of Algiers (1966)

Shot in the streets of Algiers in documentary style, this film vividly re-creates the tumultuous Algerian uprising against the occupying French in 1957. The violence soon escalates on both sides in this war drama that remains relevant.
Cast: Brahim Haggiag, Jean Martin
Director: Gillo Pontecorvo
Genre:Classics
Format: DVD and Blu-ray

Great African Films: Vol. 3: The Desert Ark (1997)

Mohamed Chouikh directs this compelling Romeo and Juliet-esque drama about young lovers, Amin and Myriam, whose families are on opposing sides in a deadly conflict in Algeria. With fresh hostility now directed at them because of their love, the two flee to a secret refuge desert in the desert, where they hope the cycle of violence and retribution will pass them by. Hacen Abdou and Messaouda Adami star.
Cast: Hacen Abdou, Messaouda Adami
Director: Mohamed Chouikh
Genre:Foreign
Format: DVD

Tengers (2007)

While attempting to write a groundbreaking novel in contemporary South Africa, struggling scribe Rob battles false criminal charges, grows close to an artsy bank teller and watches his life turn upside down, thanks to a winning lottery ticket. This dark comedy — South Africa’s first feature-length animated film — blends humor with serious drama to explore the nation’s struggles with crime, poverty and prejudice.
Cast: Jo Day, Phillip Mathebula
Director: Michael J. Rix
Genre:Comedy
Format: DVD

Tsotsi (2005)

After shooting a woman and driving off in her car, a ruthless thug is surprised to discover he isn’t alone, kept company by a crying infant in the backseat. But through his efforts to care for the baby, he slowly rediscovers his capacity to love.
Cast: Presley Chweneyagae, Terry Pheto
Director: Gavin Hood
Genre:Drama
Format: DVD and streaming

The Greatest Silence: Rape In The Congo (2008)

In the midst of a brutal war that has claimed millions of lives in the Congo, unfathomable atrocities have taken place against thousands of women and girls, who have suffered kidnapping, rape, torture and murder at the hands of soldiers. Traveling to remote war zones, this documentary captures incredible interviews with activists, physicians, victims and even rapists to bring this untold story to the rest of the world.
Director: Lisa F. Jackson

Cairo Station (1958)

The lustful fantasies of crippled Qinawi (Youssef Chahine) — a newsstand vendor in a Cairo train depot — morph into a dangerous fixation with a seductive but scheming lemonade seller (Hind Rostom) just as a serial killer begins terrorizing the city in this Egyptian thriller. Also directed by Chahine, the film met with a chorus of condemnation upon its 1958 release but is now considered a masterwork by many cinephiles and critics.

Cast: Farid Shawqi, Hind Rostom
Director: Youssef Chahine
Genre:Foreign
Format: DVD

District 9 (2009)

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When aliens land on Earth, a global conglomerate forces them into rigid containment zones where they are compelled to labor, even as their otherworldly technology is exploited for profit. As tensions build, a rogue agent leads a resistance movement.
Cast: Sharlto Copley, Jason Cope
Director: Neill Blomkamp
Genre:Sci-Fi & Fantasy
Format: DVD and Blu-ray

Teza (2008)

When Ethiopian intellectual Anberber (Aaron Arefe) returns home after years of studying medicine in Germany, he finds Ethiopia completely transformed into a violent, war-torn country under the rule of Haile Mariam Mengistu. As Anberber tries to determine where he belongs in this new world, he reminisces in flashbacks about his childhood and the cohesive community in his once-bucolic village. Haile Gerima directs this historical drama.
Cast: Aaron Arefe, Abeye Tedla
Director: Haile Gerima
Genre:Foreign

The Gods Must Be Crazy (1980)

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Three vignettes highlight the surreal in this cult comedy, including a tale about a Coke bottle that falls from the sky and becomes a one-of-a-kind object coveted by everyone in a small African village.
Cast: Marius Weyers, Sandra Prinsloo
Director: Jamie Uys
Genre:Comedy
Format: DVD

The Gods Must Be Crazy 2

N!xau is back in this sequel to the 1980 cult hit, and this time, an even stranger turn of events — stranger than a Coke bottle — leads him to an unexpected run-in with the world beyond his African village. While hunting in the desert, N!xau discovers that his children have been abducted by elephant poachers and vows to find them. But he’s forced to save the day (again) when he meets transplanted New Yorkers and soldiers who’ve lost their way.
Cast: N!xau, Lena Farugia
Director: Jamie Uys
Genre:Comedy
Format: DVD

Yeelen (1987)

Dubbed by the Los Angeles Times as “haunting and ravishingly beautiful,” Yeelen follows Nianankoro, a young man sent by his mother to find his uncle, Djigui Diarra, who may be able to help him escape a curse his own father has put on him. Along the way, Yeelen learns about honor and true power.
Cast: Issiaka Kane, Aoua Sangare
Director: Souleymane Cisse
Genre:Foreign
Format: DVD

Great African Films: Vol. 2: Sia, the Dream of the Python (2001)

Dani Kouyaté’s visually stunning film is an adaptation of a seventh-century African legend about a woman chosen as a sacrifice to a snake god to save a destitute village. The emperor picks the beautiful virgin Sia (Fatoumata Diawara) but no one tells her fiancé, Mamadi (Ibrahim Baba Cissé), about his lover’s fate. Kerfa, a government leader with plans to oust the emperor, helps Sia and Mamadi, but can she live with being known as a traitor?
Cast: Dani Kouyaté, Fatoumata Diawara
Director: Not Available
Genre:Foreign
Format: DVD

Scheherazade, Tell Me a Story(2009)

When her husband (Hassan Saeed) asks her to tone down the subversive political rhetoric on her program, Egyptian talk show host Hebba (Mona Zaki) draws even more heat by beginning a series that explores the experience of women in contemporary Egypt. As three women speak out about the mistreatment they’ve suffered in a deeply patriarchal society, Hoda must contend with her own disintegrating marriage. Yousry Nasrallah directs this drama.
Cast: Mona Zaki, Mahmoud Hemeida
Director: Yousry Nasrallah
Genre:Foreign
Format: DVD

Dreams Of Dust (2007)

Nigerian farmer Mocktar comes to Essakane, a dusty gold mining camp in Burkina Faso, seeking work. Haunted by a tragedy-laden past, Mocktar stoically adapts to the horrid working conditions of his fellow miners. Enter the beautiful widow Coumba, who shares Mocktar’s endurance but dreams of a better life. Director Laurent Salgues also penned this independent drama about greed and redemption, a 2007 Sundance Film Festival competition entry.
Cast: Makena Diop, Rasmane Ouedraogo
Director: Laurent Salgues
Genre:Foreign
Format: DVD and streaming

Burning In The Sun (2010)

In rural Mali, 99 percent of residents live without power. But Malian Daniel Dembele seeks to change that by returning to his home country from Europe to start a business installing solar panels to bring electricity to his impoverished people. This enlightening documentary from directors Cambria Matlow and Morgan Robinson demonstrates that Africa’s path to self-sufficiency starts at home, with visionaries like Dembele leading the charge.
Cast: Daniel Dembele
Director: Cambria Matlow
Genre:Documentary
Format: DVD

Yesterday (2004)

Struggling to raise her daughter in a poor African village, Yesterday (Leleti Khumalo) finds the odds stacked against her when she learns that she’s HIV positive. But with her husband in denial, Yesterday must somehow find the strength to go on. She’s also determined to live long enough to see her daughter go to school. Darrell James Roodt directs this heartfelt drama, the first Zulu-language film to be released internationally.

Cast: Leleti Khumalo, Lihle Mvelase
Director: Darrell Roodt
Genre:Independent
Format: DVD

Mama Africa (2011)

This documentary follows the wide-ranging career of singer Miriam Makeba, including her remarkable performances and social activism.
Starring:Miriam Makeba
Director:Mika Kaurismäki

Moolaadé

Moolaade
Senegalese writer-director Ousmane Sembene makes an impassioned plea against the practice of salinde, or female circumcision, in this moving portrait of a society in transition. In a West African village run by uncompromising Muslim males, fiery Colle (Fatoumata Coulibaly) provides safe harbor for young girls fleeing their “cleansing” rituals. But what one man terms “a minor domestic issue” soon puts the whole town on the verge of bloodshed.
Cast: Fatoumata Coulibaly, Maimouna Hélène Diarra
Director: Ousmane Sembène
Genre:Foreign
Format: DVD

Cairo Station (1958)

Bamako (2006)

Director Abderrahmane Sissako’s insightful social drama juxtaposes the troubled relationship between a bar singer (Aïssa Maïga) and her unemployed husband (Tiécoura Traoré) with the overwhelming economic hardships of Africa, illuminated through a mock trial against key international financial institutions. While spokesmen from African civil society rail against the World Bank, Melé and Chaka are struggling just to keep their marriage together.
Cast: Aïssa Maïga , Maimouna Hélène Diarra
Director: Abderrahmane Sissako
Genre:Foreign
Format: DVD and streaming

Camp De Thiaroye (1987)

At the end of World War II, a squad of African soldiers led by Sgt. Maj. Diatta (Iprahim Sane) rebels against the injustices of French West Africa’s supremacist rule. Refusing to be subjugated, the men face tragedy with the courage that will make them martyrs. Detained in a prison camp and denied equality, these brave veterans rise up against the French military they served so gallantly, only to encounter the ultimate inhumanity.

Cast: Sidiki Bakaba, Iprahim Sane
Director: Ousmane Sembène
Genre:Foreign
Format: DVD

Hyenas (1992)

When a woman banished for decades for the crime of adultery comes back to her Senegalese village, she causes a scramble for money that sweeps through the village like wildfire. It seems her riches can buy revenge, as she offers it up to anyone who can offer her the life of her accuser. Based on Friedrich Durrenmatt’s stage play “The Visit,” the movie features Ami Diakhate, Mansour Diouf and Mamadou Mahouredia Gueye.
Cast: Ami Diakhate, Mansour Diouf
Director: Djibril Diop Mambety
Genre:Foreign
Format: DVD

Halfaouine: Boy of the Terraces (1990)

Twelve-year-old Noura (Selim Boughedir) dangles uncertainly in that difficult netherworld between childhood and adulthood. His growing libido has gotten him banned from the women’s baths, where his mother took him when he was younger, but he’s not yet old enough to participate in grown-up discussions with the men of his Tunisian village. Noura’s only real friend is a troublemaker named Salih (Mohammed Driss) — the village political outcast.
Cast: Mustafa Adouani, Rabia Ben Abdallah
Director: Férid Boughedir
Genre:Foreign
Format: DVD