Abdelmonem Fawzi
Our continent was and continues to invite the attention of the world.
One reason it does this is that this continent proves that it is the pulsating heart of the universe day after day.
Africa is unique in all aspects: it is the world’s hottest continent and is home to over 1.2 billion people who are scattered over its 54 states.
These Africans also speak over 2,000 different languages.
Seeking to raise awareness about Africa, Netflix, the world’s leading streaming service, has started showcasing African talents and stories to subscribers around the world.
The service does this through a new collection, called ‘From Cape to Cairo’.
The new collection was launched on May 1 and coincides with the Africa Month.
The launch of the new collection comes in response to calls for media houses to invest in creating the necessary space for African content creators to share their stories about their continent with the rest of the world.
Calls were also made for supporting investment in content production and promoting access to continental and global audiences with the aim of changing the view and narratives about Africa.
Leslie Richer, director of Information and Communication for the African Union, said welcomed the initiative.
“It comes in response to our call to the media to redefine and change the narratives about Africa by showcasing African stories conceived of and told by African content creators and talent,” Richer said.
She said Africans would mark the Africa Day on May 25,
“This creates visibility for those in front of and behind the camera doing their part to build the ‘Africa We Want’ as envisaged in the Aspirations of Agenda 2063 through investment in Africa’s creative economy, culture and creative industries,” Richer added.
She noted that the initiative also builds on the goal to encourage dignified storytelling and ensuring that stories told about a people and their culture is captured in an authentic and balanced manner.
This, Richer said, can only happen when we encourage diversity and inclusion in the media space.
Netflix’s Director of Content in Africa, Ben Amadasun, said there is a multitude of stories to be told from, and about, the continent and its people with Africa’s rich cultural heritage.
“Netflix has not only invested in promoting African talent through content creation and skills and capacity building initiatives, but wants to enhance the narrative of Africa beyond the continent’s borders to its global audiences,” Amadasun said.
Beyond the new collection, Netflix will also launch a new podcast, titled ‘Never Late| African Time’.
It will feature some of Africa’s biggest film and TV talent in conversation about various aspects of the creative industry that impact their craft.
The five-episode podcast is available on the Africa, on Netflix’s official YouTube page, as well as on Spotify and Apple iTunes.
Viewers can tune in to a new episode released every Wednesday, with the podcast available in video and audio formats.
The African Union has declared 2022 as the ‘Year of Nutrition’. In that spirit, Netflix is bringing to its subscribers stories from North, East, West, Central and Southern Africa to feast on.
The ‘From Cape to Cairo’ collection features Netflix’s latest African series, ‘Blood Sisters’ (Nigeria) and ‘Savage Beauty’ (South Africa) — both launching in May — and many other stories that showcase the continent’s creativity and talent.
The wide variety featured includes the recently-launched African films ‘Silverton Siege and Man of God’ to the South African true-crime docuseries ‘Murder of a Soccer Star’, the much-loved reality series ‘Young Famous’ and African plus Netflix series, including ‘Finding Ola’, ‘Paranormal and Secrets of The Saqqara Tomb’ from Egypt to ‘Queen Sono’, ‘Blood & Water’, ‘JIVA’, ‘How To Ruin Christmas’ and ‘Kings of Joburg’ from South Africa, plus ‘King of Boys’ and ‘Return Of The King’ from Nigeria.
They also have major international films and series, featuring talents of African descent from the African Diaspora, including ‘Meet the Adebanjos’, ‘African Doctor’, ‘Shine Your Eyes’, ‘Dọlápọ̀ is Fine’, ‘Yasuke’ and more.
To further celebrate African talent across the continent, Netflix is also launching a new podcast, entitled ‘Never Late | African Time’, featuring Netflix’s on-screen and behind-the-screen talent like Nox Dlamini (actress – Silverton Siege), Jayan Moodley (director – Tripping with the Kandasamys), Retti Ramaphakela (producer/director – How to Ruin Christmas), Jesse Suntele (actor – Savage Beauty), Daniel Effiong (actor – Blood Sisters), Nancy Isime (actress – Blood Sisters), Ini Dima Okojie (actress – Blood Sisters), and Kemi Adetiba (director – King Of Boys) as they share their experiences around diversity and inclusion in the creative industry.
This is, however, a step to gaining what we really deserve and raising awareness about our talents and stories.
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