Home / Explore places / South Africa

Stories Set in South Africa

Stories Set in South Africa — top stories

Apartheid and reconciliation, Joburg aliens, rugby finals and Zulu epics — few nations' stories carry more moral weight. Start with these ten, then open South Africa on StoryTerra's map.

StoryTerraOpen South Africa on the StoryTerra map
Opens live on the interactive map

10 famous stories set in South Africa

Live snapshot of the top 10 most popular catalogue items (2026-09-04). Click any card to open this entry on the live map.

Browse 114 books, 213 movies and 4 TV shows set in South Africa.

Chappie

Chappie

Columbia Pictures-MRC-LStar Capital-Simon Kinberg Productions-Genre Films-Alpha Core-Ollin Studio-Sony Pictures
movie

Every child comes into the world full of promise and none more so than Chappie: he is gifted special a prodigy. Like any child Chappie will come under the influence of his surroundings—some good some bad—and he will…

Setting: South Africa, JohannesburgTime Period: 2010s, Near Future
Gandhi

Gandhi

Goldcrest-Indo-British-International Film Investors-National Film Development Corporation of India-Columbia Pictures
movie

In the early years of the 20th century Mohandas K. Gandhi a British-trained lawyer forsakes all worldly possessions to take up the cause of Indian independence. Faced with armed resistance from the British government…

Setting: India; South Africa; UKTime Period: Early 20th Century
Beast

Beast

RVK Studios-Will Packer Productions-Universal Pictures
movie

A recently widowed man and his two teenage daughters travel to a game reserve in South Africa. However their journey of healing soon turns into a fight for survival when a bloodthirsty lion starts to stalk them.

Setting: South AfricaTime Period: 2022
Blended

Blended

Gulfstream Pictures-Karz Entertainment-Warner Bros. Pictures-Happy Madison Productions-RatPac Entertainment
movie

Recently divorced mom Lauren and widowed dad Jim let their friends push them into a blind date which goes disastrously wrong. Unsurprisingly neither wants to see the other ever again. However fate intervenes when both…

Setting: South AfricaTime Period: 2014
Invictus

Invictus

Warner Bros. Pictures-Spyglass Entertainment-Revelations Entertainment-Malpaso Productions-Liberty Pictures
movie

Newly elected President Nelson Mandela knows his nation remains racially and economically divided in the wake of apartheid. Believing he can bring his people together through the universal language of sport Mandela…

Setting: South AfricaTime Period: 1995
Lethal Weapon 2

Lethal Weapon 2

Warner Bros. Pictures-Silver Pictures
movie

In the opening chase Martin Riggs and Roger Murtaugh stumble across a trunk full of Krugerrands. They follow the trail to a South African diplomat who's using his immunity to conceal a smuggling operation. When he…

Setting: Los Angeles, California, USA; South AfricaTime Period: 1989
My Octopus Teacher

My Octopus Teacher

Off the Fence-The Sea Change Project
movie

After years of swimming every day in the freezing ocean at the tip of Africa Craig Foster meets an unlikely teacher: a young octopus who displays remarkable curiosity. Visiting her den and tracking her movements for…

Setting: South AfricaTime Period: 2020
Searching for Sugar Man

Searching for Sugar Man

Passion Pictures-Red Box Films-Canfield Pictures
movie

Two South Africans set out to discover what happened to their unlikely musical hero the mysterious 1970s rock 'n' roller Rodriguez. The film won Best Documentary at the 85th Academy Awards.

Setting: South AfricaTime Period: 1970s
Escape from Pretoria

Escape from Pretoria

MEP Capital-Momentum Pictures-Hamilton Entertainment-South Australian Film Corporation-Arclight Films-Particular Crowd-Spier Films-Enriched Media Group-Premiere Picture-Footprint Films-Beagle Pug Films
movie

South Africa 1978. Tim Jenkin and Stephen Lee two white political activists from the African National Congress imprisoned by the apartheid regime put a plan in motion to escape from the infamous Pretoria Prison.

Setting: Pretoria, South AfricaTime Period: 1978
Mia and the White Lion

Mia and the White Lion

Canal+-Pandora Film-StudioCanal-Film Afrika Worldwide-Galatée Films-M6 Films-Ciné+-M6-Film- und Medienstiftung NRW-W9-Outside Films
movie

A young girl from London moves to Africa with her parents where she befriends a lion cub.

Setting: South AfricaTime Period: Contemporary

The 10 stories above are just a sample of the 331 in the catalogue for this entry. For the full live catalogue, open South Africa in the StoryTerra app. On the live map you can also filter by the exact time the stories take place — any year, decade or century, from BCE to the future.

Keep exploring

Nigeria · Kenya · Egypt · All places