--- title: "On your screens in October - The European Film Festival, Spielberg’s new wildlife doccie, and more" description: "Our non-exhaustive list of films and series to look out for in October on Netflix, Showmax, Prime Video, Disney+ and in cinemas." type: "NewsArticle" publisher: "Daily Maverick" site: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za" section: "KEEP AN EYE OUT" author: "Tevya Turok Shapiro" author_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/author/tevya-shapiro/" canonical_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2023-10-06-on-your-screens-in-october-the-european-film-festival-spielbergs-new-wildlife-doccie-and-more/" published: "2023-10-06T15:44:57" lang: "en-ZA" word_count: 849 --- # On your screens in October - The European Film Festival, Spielberg’s new wildlife doccie, and more > Our non-exhaustive list of films and series to look out for in October on Netflix, Showmax, Prime Video, Disney+ and in cinemas. By Tevya Turok Shapiro · Published 6 October 2023, 17:44 SAST ## Key points - European Film Festival South Africa: 12-22 October in select cinemas and online with free online screenings - Biopics of mysterious legends: Dear Mama (Disney+) and The Pigeon Tunnel (Apple TV+) - For a laugh: The Burial (Prime Video) and Honk For Jesus. Save Your Soul (Showmax) - Mystery thrillers: Bodies (Netflix) and Killers of Flower Moon (Apple TV+) - Epic animation series: Life on Our Planet (Netflix) and Pluto (Netflix) ## Content [YouTube video: "YouTube video"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xw7aSwpAaYo) #### [**European Film Festival South Africa**](https://www.eurofilmfest.co.za/)**: 12-22 October in select cinemas and online** For its 10th birthday, the festival has nabbed a stellar line-up, including Oscar nominees, Cannes winners and other thought-provoking films from all over Europe. Screenings will take place in select cinemas in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban (you can find the schedule [here](https://www.eurofilmfest.co.za/2023-home/screenings/)) and to extend the festival’s reach beyond the city metropoles, an online programme of free screenings will also be available during the festival period. Look out for *Daily Maverick*Webinars on some of the high-profile films being featured. **Biopics of mysterious legends:** [YouTube video: "YouTube video"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2K6h4OMGtKA) [**Dear Mama**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2K6h4OMGtKA)**: 4 October on Disney+** A deeply personal five-part documentary series about an illuminating saga of mother and son, Afeni and Tupac Shakur, one of the most legendary rappers of all time. Among many other things, *Dear Mama*, named after his popular song, is about how his single mother shaped who he became. Their story chronicles the possibilities and contradictions of the US from a time of revolutionary fervour to hip hop culture’s most ostentatious decade. [**The Pigeon Tunnel**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gWnuhjwNrw&ab_channel=AppleTV)**: 20 October on Apple TV+** A biopic on former British spy David Cornwell — better known as John le Carré, author of classic espionage novels such as *The Spy Who Came in from the Cold*, *Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy* and *The Constant Gardener*. Our mysterious subject gives his final and most candid ever interview, allowing Academy Award-winning documentarian Errol Morris open access (mostly) to his secretive career and the story of his life, set against the backdrop of the Cold War. **For a laugh:** [YouTube video: "YouTube video"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOhIdaufd3Q) [**The Burial**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOhIdaufd3Q&ab_channel=PrimeVideo)**: 11 October on Prime Video** A feel-good David vs Goliath courtroom comedy drama inspired by true events. After getting screwed over in a handshake business deal, a funeral homeowner (Tommy Lee Jones) enlists the help of a charismatic, smooth-talking attorney (Jamie Foxx) to save his family business. The film blazes a familiar path, but the chemistry between Jones’ mild-mannered character and Fox’s antithetically energised lawyer, akin to that of Jones and Will Smith in [*Men In Black*](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxUTTrU6PA4), is more than enough to carry you to the final verdict. [**Honk For Jesus. Save Your Soul**](https://youtu.be/YuI_R9JEkRg)**: 26 October on Showmax** A mockumentary satirical comedy starring Regina Hall and Sterling K Brown as a power couple who head up a mega-church that’s just suffered a calamitous scandal ([as they often tend to do](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2023-07-19-an-airtight-docuseries-on-the-collusion-of-christianity-and-capitalism/)). The pair set out to restore their lucrative institution by *any* means necessary. Sardonic laughs and biting one-liners make for a wonderful send-up of the hypocrisy of mainstream religious institutions. **Mystery thrillers:** [YouTube video: "YouTube video"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrJUDWRDTos) [**Bodies**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrJUDWRDTos)**: 19 October on Netflix** A police procedural psychological mystery series with a twist. Based on a mind-bending graphic novel by Si Spencer, *Bodies* follows the stories of four detectives in different times (1890, 1941, 2023 and 2053) who find the *same* body in Longharvest Lane in London's East End. With elements of time-travel drama and political conspiracy, the challenge to our protagonists is to somehow collaborate on an investigation happening in four different periods of time. [**Killers of Flower Moon**](https://www.apple.com/tv-pr/originals/killers-of-the-flower-moon/)**: 20 October 2023 on Apple TV+** A highly anticipated Western by Martin Scorsese which was delayed several times due to Covid-19 and Paramount’s concerns about Leonardo DiCaprio’s switching roles during the production of the film, leaving Jesse Plemmons in the lead role. The film is adapted from a 2017 book of the same name about a series of real murders in Oklahoma in the 1920s which targeted wealthy members of a Native American tribe. **Epic animation series:** [YouTube video: "YouTube video"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xy1v0pzMP4g) [**Life on Our Planet**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xy1v0pzMP4g)**: 25 October on Netflix** An epic prehistoric nature program with top-of-the-range computer-generated animation, directed by Steven Spielberg and narrated by Morgan Freeman. Today there are 20 million species on our planet – 99% of earth’s inhabitants are lost to our deep past. This series tells the story of survival on this planet through the lens of extinction; the rise and fall of the great dynasties of life on Earth. [**Pluto**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ez8lm9I26Y&ab_channel=Netflix)**: 26 October on Nertflix** A TV adaption of a renowned manga that reimagines the arc of an [episode](https://www.google.com/search?q=Astro+Boy+%E2%80%98The+Greatest+Robot+on+Earth%E2%80%99&rlz=1C5CHFA_enZA1071ZA1071&oq=Astro+Boy+%E2%80%98The+Greatest+Robot+on+Earth%E2%80%99&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOdIBBzIzMWowajmoAgCwAgA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&bshm=rimc/1) of Osamu Tezuka’s [*Astro Boy*](https://www.google.com/search?q=astro+boy+original+series+trailer&rlz=1C5CHFA_enZA1071ZA1071&oq=astro+boy+original+series+trailer&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIHCAEQLhiABDIHCAIQABiABDIMCAMQABgUGIcCGIAEMgcIBBAuGIAEMgcIBRAuGIAEMgcIBhAuGIAEMgcIBxAAGIAEMgcICBAuGIAEMgoICRAAGIYDGIoF0gEINTM3MGowajmoAgCwAgA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8), one of the most famous early animated series, created in the 60s by Naoki Urasawa and Takashi Nagasaki. The series is a neo-futuristic science fiction drama depicting a seemingly utopian world in which humans and high-functioning robots have been coexisting harmoniously. It’s a highly philosophical parable of our technological trajectory, held together by stylishly animated robot fights. **Stick it to the man:** [YouTube video: "YouTube video"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1PuK8mxASE) [**Lessons in Chemistry**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1PuK8mxASE&ab_channel=AppleTV)**: October 13 on Apple TV+** Based on the 2022 Bonnie Garmus novel of the same name, Brie Larson (best known these days as the unstoppable [*Ms. Marvel*](https://www.google.com/search?q=Ms+Marvel+trailer&rlz=1C5CHFA_enZA1071ZA1071&oq=Ms+Marvel+trailer&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyCQgAEEUYORiABDIKCAEQLhixAxiABDIHCAIQLhiABDIHCAMQABiABDIHCAQQABiABDIHCAUQABiABDIHCAYQABiABDIHCAcQABiABDIHCAgQLhiABNIBCDE0OTFqMGo5qAIAsAIA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8)) rises up against patriarchal ignorance in her role as Elizabeth Zott, an aspiring scientist who, after being fired from her laboratory job, uses her influences the host of a cooking show to educate and mobilise the housewives watching at home. Episodes premiere on Fridays until November 24. **DM** *You can contact Keep An Eye Out via*[*tevya@dailymaverick.co.za*](mailto:tevya@dailymaverick.co.za)