"SHAKA ILEMBE"

Join us in the exhibition Nguni: Migrant Nations of Southeast Africa for an episode from the epic South African television series SHAKA ILEMBE, which dramatizes the rise of the Zulu Kingdom and is screened for the first time in the United States at the Gallery.

The series consists of two seasons, which will be presented consecutively over the course of the exhibition—the first season in fall 2026 and the second in spring 2027. One episode will be shown each week on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays, at 3:00 pm, beginning Tuesday, October 6.

For a synopsis of each episode, visit https://www.imdb.com/title/tt18747550/episodes.

In the late 18th century, in the verdant land of the Nguni kingdoms of southeast Africa, kings and queens, warriors and witches, spies, slavers, marauders, and traders all struggle for power. One visionary leader seizes the Zulu throne, determined to unite them all. While the 1986 series Shaka Zulu filtered the king through the writings of British traders, SHAKA ILEMBE was made in conjunction with historians, academics, and family descendants, among them the late King Goodwill Zwelithini and Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi.

Produced by Bomb Productions for M-Net’s Mzansi Magic and originally broadcast in 2023 and 2025 on CANAL+, SHAKA ILEMBE is the largest television production ever mounted in South Africa.