Mother City Brings Groundbreaking Documentary to the Big Screen in Nationwide Cinema Release

Acclaimed groundbreaking indie documentary Mother City, set for screenings at Ster-Kinekor, giving audiences across South Africa the opportunity to experience the film on the big screen.

Documentaries have long played second fiddle to fiction on the big screen, but that's changing. Audiences worldwide are increasingly choosing the cinema for non-fiction storytelling, and Mother City, directed by Miki Redelinghuys and Pearlie Joubert, is riding that wave with a nationwide release at Ster-Kinekor Cinemas from 1 October.

The documentary will screen at selected Ster-Kinekor cinemas nationwide, with ticket prices at R50. The release marks a significant moment for local non-fiction filmmaking, bringing an acclaimed South African documentary to a wider cinema audience at an accessible ticket price. 

March to Woodstock Police - Credit: Barry Christianson

Mother City followed Cape Town’s Reclaim the City activists' six-year fight for affordable housing on public land, and the story is centred on the iconic old Tafelberg School site, situated in the Atlantic Seaboard. The film kept the case in public view and amplified the voices of activists and the Ndifuna Ukwazi legal centre, turning the documentary into a tool for sustained pressure. In July 2026 the Constitutional Court ruling declared the Tafelberg sale unlawful, affirming the movement's core argument that the government has a constitutional duty to provide affordable housing within the inner city, and that high property values or land scarcity can't be used as an excuse to avoid that duty. The ruling ignited audiences’ urgent requests  to see Mother City that follows - blow by blow - the thrilling courtroom drama and bold activism. 

Told with raw honesty, fearless journalism, a cinematic eye, and genuine edge-of-your-seat tension, Mother City is exactly the kind of documentary changing what audiences expect from the genre.

Occupy Rondebosch Golf Course - Credit: Barry Christianson

Mother City’s journey to South African cinemas is itself part of the story. Since premiering at Sheffield DocFest in 2024, the film has screened more than 180 times at festivals and venues around the world, picking up numerous awards along the way. Its festival success and international screenings have built strong momentum ahead of its South African cinema release.

“We made Mother City to be seen, not just at festivals, but by the communities whose stories it tells. Having Ster-Kinekor bring the film to cinemas nationwide is proof that South African audiences want to see their own realities reflected on the big screen. Land and housing activism in South Africa is uniquely powerful, innovative, reflecting our shared humanity” says Pearlie. 

Miki concurs “This isn't just a milestone for the film; it's a milestone for what a local documentary can achieve by bringing these urgent and evocative stories of ordinary people to the big screen.”

DATES

Thu 1 Oct 17:00 / Sat 3 Oct 14:30 / Sun 4 Oct 14:30 / Thu 8 Oct 20:00

Western Province: V&A Waterfront, N1 City, Blue Route Mall, Somerset West Mall

Gauteng: Rosebank Nouveau, Eastgate Mall, Brooklyn Mall

Kwazulu-Natal: Watercrest Mall

Eastern Cape: Baywest Mall

For tickets : https://www.sterkinekor.com/f/mother-city/722

Celebratory Mother City Screenings following Constitutional Court Victory for Housing Justice Movement (Cape Town & Johannesburg)

Following the historic legal win for Cape Town's housing justice movement, the award-winning documentary Mother City will celebrate this victory with public screenings at The Bioscope Independent Cinema in Johannesburg and at The Labia Theatre in Cape Town on 28 July.

The screenings follow the landmark Constitutional Court ruling handed down on 2 July 2026, that the sale of the former Tafelberg School site in Sea Point was unlawful. This reaffirms the constitutional obligation of both the Western Cape Government and the City of Cape Town to actively address apartheid's spatial legacy through well-located affordable housing and, crucially, ordered the Western Cape government to report back to the same court on the steps taken to fulfil its housing obligation. The judgement is a watershed moment for spatial justice, recognising that where people live is inseparable from their access to work, education, healthcare and dignity.

Mandisa Shandu at the High Court win after judgement passed by Judge Gamble in 2020

Through the voices of Reclaim the City activists and the Ndifuna Ukwazi legal centre, documents a decade-long struggle for the right to live in the city. What began as a documentary about resistance has become a powerful record of a movement whose vision has now been affirmed by South Africa's highest court.

Directed by Miki Redelinghuys and Pearlie Joubert, Mother City follows Reclaim the City activists and Capetonians struggling to find housing over six years, tracing the fight to use well-located public land, including the mothballed Tafelberg site and Woodstock Hospital, for affordable housing rather than private developments. The Tafelberg case has anchored the film's impact campaign since the project began, with the filmmakers describing it as the goal that could "set a very strong precedent for prioritising public land for social and affordable housing" nationally.

Nkosikhona Swartbooi in discussion at cinema screening at the Labia Theatre, Cape Town

The Mother City team took the courageous and difficult step of self-distributing the film to create the impact they set out to make. Since its international premiere at Sheffield DocFest in June 2024, the film has screened 175 times across 36 countries (an average of more than seven public screenings a month) over 63 film festivals, 46 independent cinema runs, 41 grassroots impact screenings and 21 academic engagements. It has been subtitled into Spanish, Portuguese and French, and is now also available on the KINEMA streaming platform, and plans are for a South African cinema release in September.

The film’s mobilisation intensified around the Tafelberg hearing, and screenings have since gone on to mobilise housing and tenant movements as far afield as London, Berlin, Bogotá, Mexico  City, Budapest, Lagos and Belgrade.

Mother City Filmmakers at Encounters South African International Documentary Festival

"We always believed this film could do more than tell a story, we believed it could support the fight for access to housing in the City and in other urban centres around the world, facing similar struggles," says director Miki Redelinghuys. 

Pearlie Joubert reflects "Seeing the Constitutional Court confirm what the Reclaim the City activists have argued for a decade is an joyous  vindication, for all South Africans, for everyone who has opened their doors, their communities and their courtrooms to Mother City along the way."

The Constitutional Court ruling states: “A city’s architecture tells a story of its soul. In Cape Town, as in most, if not all South African Cities, that story remains one of division, where the echoes of apartheid spatial planning continue to reverberate through its streets and suburbs.”  

Mother City reveals in carefully observed detail the violent impact of these divisions, while celebrating the people who tirelessly work to build a more just society. 

Screenings Tuesday, 28 July at The Labia Theatre in Cape Town and The Bioscope Independent Cinema in Johannesburg  followed by a discussion. Tickets can be booked here https://www.mothercitydocumentary.com/watch.

Mother City Documentary Screening to Spark Vital Conversation on Housing, Belonging and the Future of Cape Town

The hard-hitting cinematic-documentary Mother City, which interrogates the housing crisis, belonging and the future of Cape Town, will be screened at a special event presented by Cape Talk on Wednesday, 18 February at 6pm at the Labia Theatre.  This will be followed by a robust  conversation hosted by no-holds barred broadcast journalist Lester Kiewit of Good Morning Cape Town.

Broadcast journalist Lester Kiewit of Good Morning Cape Town

The discussion will unpack the social, political and human stakes raised by the film and what possible pathways there could be to talking frankly about building equal cities. 

From 34 global festivals to powerful impact screenings, Mother City has travelled the world leaving conversations and change in its wake. The film has become a catalyst for change - igniting conversations, inspiring communities, and creating opportunities for tough debates.

The documentary follows activists from Reclaim the City, the social movement fighting for affordable housing in well-located areas of the City in their David versus Goliath struggle against entrenched property power. The film exposes the systems of exclusion that continue to define Cape Town, while calling attention to their fight for dignity, access, and the fundamental right to live in the city.

“Amidst the ever-increasing housing crisis in Cape Town, spurred on by a myriad factors including the surge in the short term-rental market, citizens are asking: “Who is the City for?” and we need answers and tangible solutions,” says Kiewit, the host of Good Morning Cape Town  on Cape Talk. “Mother City forces us to confront uncomfortable but necessary questions about power, belonging and who gets to call Cape Town home. These are conversations we cannot keep having in isolation; they need to happen face-to-face, in shared spaces, with room for listening, disagreement and collective reflection.”

The event reflects Cape Talk’s growing commitment to engage audiences beyond the airwaves, and to foster community-centred gatherings that become part of the City’s cultural fabric — spaces people can return to, participate in, and use to build a shared civic imagination.

“This is about taking conversations that matter out of isolation and into collective space,” says Kiewit “It’s about listening together, thinking together, and imagining our City differently. This is not just an invitation into a vital public conversation about justice for the unhoused in Cape Town.”

Event details:

Labia Theatre, Cape Town

Wednesday, 18 February at 18:00

Tickets: R100

Bookings: https://tinyurl.com/MCCapeTalk