By Chinenye Anuforo
Netflix has presented a preview of what will be its programming for the end of 2022 and the beginning of 2023.
Bringing together talent, filmmakers and press from South Africa and Nigeria, Netflix hosted a “See What’s Next Africa” content showcase to spotlight its increased investment in Africa’s rich heritage of storytelling through exciting new projects that span a diverse range of genres and formats that will be available in 190 countries.
During the first half of 2022, Netflix in Africa released an exceptional slate of content from the sub-Saharan Africa region across multiple genres, including the pan-African reality show “Young, Famous & African”, South African action film “Silverton Siege”, the South African drama series “Savage Beauty”, Netflix’s first Kenyan licensed branded series “Country Queen”, the first Netflix-owned Nigerian series “Blood Sisters”, a riveting South African crime documentary “Senzo: Murder of a Soccer Star,” and, most recently, “Justice Served”. The response has been astounding with these titles landing on the Netflix weekly Global Top 10 lists, which rank global and country lists for the most popular titles on the service, in addition to the Top 10 daily product rows on Netflix.
“We believe that Africa is one of the major creative centres for great storytelling that resonates around the world so it only makes sense for us to increase our investment with our slate with an even more exciting slate. We’re proud to continue creating global opportunities for the talented creatives of this great continent and sharing their authentic stories with our members in Africa and around the world,” said Dorothy Ghettuba, Netflix director of series in Africa.
As part of the company’s ongoing commitment to creating sustainable relationships with African storytellers, Netflix announced a multi-project partnership with acclaimed South African filmmaker Mandlakayise Walter Dube. Under the partnership, Mandla, who directed Netflix’s first commissioned African film, “Silverton Siege” (and Kalushi), will direct a variety of Netflix-owned projects that will be shared in due course. This partnership joins other multi-title agreements between the company and African creatives, including Mo Abudu (and Ebonylife StudioS) and Kunle Afolayan (and KAP).
At the event, Netflix also gave a glimpse into the progress of the various projects being created by emerging filmmakers from the various initiatives the company introduced in the past year which include, the UNESCO & Netflix ‘African folktales, Reimagined’ Competition; the Netflix & NFVF Film Fund and the Realness Institute Episodic Lab.
Tendeka Matatu, Director of Local Language Films in Africa said, “We are working with top talent and filmmakers as well as exciting emerging voices from the continent. We are thrilled to expand our partnerships with Africa’s talented storytellers. With an ever-growing slate of series, movies and licensed content across a rich variety of best-in-class content across genres, we want to give our members more moments to share the joy that comes from being immersed in great stories made in Africa, to be watched by the world.”
At the event, Netflix previewed a diverse range of best-in-class exciting African content through exclusive promo reels and images which includes Ludik, The Braveones, Kings of QueensTown among others.