That question sits at the centre of his latest short film, The Last Insurgent, a science fiction action film set in South Africa in 2042. The film, which stars Ntobeko Sishi and Alex Biaya, has been submitted to international film festivals ahead of its planned international release in the first quarter of 2027.
Written, directed, and produced by Booi, the film follows Lethu, a young insurgent who wakes up after a battle to find himself surrounded by the bodies of his fellow fighters. Injured and being pursued by enemy soldiers, he is forced to make a decision about whether to run or fight.
Behind the survival story is a dystopian South Africa shaped by the consequences of corruption, exploitation and failures of leadership. In Booi’s imagined 2042, a totalitarian government has been captured by foreign technology corporations, which gain control over the country’s resources and people in the name of progress.
For Booi, however, the film is not simply about creating a dark vision of the future. It is about using the genre to ask what happens when people lose control over the decisions that shape their lives.
“The Last Insurgent is a story about resistance,” Booi says. “Resistance to the idea that we are powerless and hopeless, resistance to the belief that the decisions shaping our future have already been made for us.”
His interest in such stories began during childhood, when he watched science fiction films and television programmes depicting space travel, extraterrestrial life and technological advances.
Those ideas eventually became part of his approach to filmmaking. “I believe Africans must be the authors of our own futures,” he says.
The Last Insurgent follows his earlier short film, Rupture, which combined supernatural horror, magical realism and speculative storytelling in a South African setting. While Rupture explored the supernatural, his latest project moves into dystopian science fiction and action.
The new film features Sishi as Lethu and Biaya as Captain Ilunga, alongside Chioma Antoinette Umeala, Teule Njiri, Tadiwa Zvirahwa, Olwethu Sutu, Aluve Mtandeki, Butsolo Tole, Nokulunga Masia, Nhlanhla Chauke, Jana Swanepoel, Masego Kgopa and Tanatsirwa Gwatikunda.
Behind the production is a South African and international creative team. Booi serves as writer, director, producer, editor, and sound designer, working alongside producer Calvin Hayward. The production team includes director of photography Tshepo Nthako, production designer Kerry von Lillienfeld, special effects supervisor Max Poolman, costume designer Danielle Knox and stunt coordinator Caprice Masinga. Bubele Booi composed the film’s score.
The project is also intended to become part of a larger story. Booi plans to develop The Last Insurgent into a feature film that will explore Lethu’s journey into political radicalisation and extremism, examining how feelings of powerlessness can develop into more extreme convictions. For now, the short film serves as an introduction to that world.
Booi describes it as “a warning about a future that hasn’t happened yet”, using a fictional South Africa to examine questions about power, resistance, technology and the choices that could shape generations to come.
His wider body of work includes JERUSALEMA, where he served as co-director and writer, Raised by Wolves Season 2 as a director’s assistant, Will Linley’s Last Call as director, and Visit Dubai – Find Your Dubai.
With The Last Insurgent, Booi is continuing to build a body of genre work rooted in South African settings while exploring stories about futures that are often imagined from outside the continent.
The film has now entered the international festival circuit, with its wider release planned for the first quarter of 2027.
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