The annual Encounters South African International Documentary Film Festival is back this June for its 23rd edition. Unlike 2020, which was a completely online-only festival edition, this year the festival is screening all films online and there's also a selection of films screening at The Bioscope cinema at 44 Stanley. 

There are more than 50 films on the programme at the 2021 Encounters festival covering topics as varied as sleep cycles, Joburg's illegal miners, ballet, basketball and albinism. 

Among the many South African-made programme highlights are I Am Here, an incredibly moving film about Ella Blumenthal, a vibrant and energetic 98-year-old Polish holocaust survivor living in Cape Town, and We Are Zama Zama, which tells the stories of migrants working as illegal informal miners below Joburg's old mine dumps.

From the international features selection we're also looking forward to Wuhan! Wuhan! a gripping on-the-ground account of the early days of the Covid-19 outbreak in Wuhan told through the eyes of ordinary residents and All-In, a beautiful and thoughtful documentary that follows two young Turkish men who leave their village to work at a resort on the Turkish coast.

Films are available to stream online for a R60 rental fee, or for R500 you can buy a festival pass and watch as many films online as you want. Browse the schedule and watch online at encounters.co.za. Tickets for cinema screenings at The Bioscope can be bought at thebioscope.co.za.