Calendar / Zanzibar International Film Festival
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Film Festivals in Stone Town
Zanzibar International Film Festival
Jun 23–27, 2027ExpectedZIFF 2027 (30th anniversary, expected)
Run by Zanzibar International Film Festival, with published dates and a real program.
Dates & details verified against: Official event site ↗
Why go
The Zanzibar International Film Festival is East Africa's flagship film event, running since 1997 from Ngome Kongwe, Stone Town's 17th-century Old Fort, where screenings play in an open-air amphitheater inside the fort walls. The program centers African and Indian Ocean cinema, the Dhow Countries, with music and arts spilling through the UNESCO-listed quarter for the week. Watching a premiere under the stars inside a coral-stone fort, with the call to prayer drifting over the walls between films, is the kind of festival experience no purpose-built venue can copy. It shares the Old Fort stage with February's Sauti za Busara, which makes Stone Town a two-festival town.
When it runs
Annual, late June to early July.
- Jun 23–27, 2027ExpectedZIFF 2027 (30th anniversary, expected)
- Ran Jun 24–28, 202629th edition
Dates read confirmed where the organizer has published them, and expected where we've projected the recurrence. Always verify with the organizer before booking.
These dates aren't confirmed yet.
Jun 23–27, 2027 is our best read from the pattern, not an announcement. Leave your email and we'll message you the day the real dates land. One email, that's the whole deal.
What to expect
Annual, late June to early July: the 29th edition runs June 24-28 2026; 2027 dates publish on the festival site. June is dry season on the island. Screenings are cheap and walk-up friendly; the fort amphitheater fills for headline premieres.
Getting there & around
Fly to Zanzibar; everything happens within walking distance in Stone Town. Pair the festival with the spice-farm and reef day trips, and book rooms in the old quarter early for festival week.
Where it happens
Stone Town, Tanzania.
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