Akunna Cook’s Next Narrative Africa Fund (NNAF) has announced the first nine film and TV projects from Africa and the diaspora that will be supported by $50m in content funding over the next five years, including new work from Trevor Noah, the Esiri Brothers, and former Screen UK Star Of Tomorrow Rapman.
Unveiling the inaugural cohort on Thursday (March 12), founder and CEO Cook said NNAF’s non-profit venture studio will support script development through $10m in grants. Once filmmakers return with a script ready to be packaged or go into production, NNAF will deploy equity investment through a $40m commercial fund.
Cook told Screen the non-profit venture studio will support around 125 scripts over the next five years, while the commercial fund will partially back 20-25 projects. NNAF will finance up to 20% of the total production budget on any one project and producers will be expected to find funding for the balance and can approach other companies as they see fit.
Qualifying projects must bring at least 50% of production to the African continent.
“The hope is that our funding, both on the non-profit side and the for-profit side, will be catalytic,” Cook said, noting that NNAF whittled down more than 2,000 submissions to the inaugural first wave of projects.
Cook added, “Next Narrative Africa Fund is investing in developing world-class entertainment that will be produced in Africa by top talent as we build an investable asset class. These projects represent over $60m in production in Africa. By pairing world-class storytelling with key financing and data validation, we are shaping the African narrative, positioning it for global investment, and sustaining thousands of jobs and economic development across Africa.”
NNAF has struck a strategic partnership with Parrot Analytics to use predictive data to create an African entertainment landscape study.
The nine projects receiving development support are:
Beyond Day Zero (S Afr)
Film, action
Logline: The wealthy daughter of a water tycoon teams up with a gangster from the townships to lead a rebellion against her father and tear down the wall dividing their world.
Team: Trevor Noah, Sanaz Yamin and Rebekah Cheyne will produce for Day Zero Productions, alongside Kevin Schmutzler, Toby Schmutzler, Stefan Brunner, Danielle Turkov Wilson, and Amy Shepherd. Think-Film will be the impact producer. South African writer Amy Jephta will adapt the screenplay from an original story by Toby and Kevin Schmutzler.
Innocent (Nigeria)
Film, mystery-thriller
Dir. Arie Esiri
Logline: A ‘whodunnit’ set in Lagos, Nigeria.
Team: Esiri will direct from a script he co-wrote with his twin brother Chuko Esiri. Neon recently acquired worldwide rights to the brothers’ feature Clarissa starring Sophie Okonedo, David Oyelowo and Ayo Edebiri.
Skunk (S Afr)
Film, action drama
Wr-dir. Amanda Lane
Logline: Two fashion models mastermind a heist of stolen government gold to buy back ancestral land.
Team: Thuso Mbedu stars and serves as co-writer, and produces alongside Vee Mpakanyiswa and Megan Kruger.
Untitled Political Thriller/Drama (Sierra Leone-UK)
Film, drama-thriller-mystery
Dir. Rapman
Logline: At 25, a quiet Sierra Leonean soldier is thrust into power after a bloodless coup, only to find that ruling a country is far more dangerous than taking it.
Team: Former Screen Star Of Tomorrow Rapman (Netflix superhero series Supacell) is attached as director and co-writer and will produce with Mouktar Mohamed and Victor Mukete.
United States Of Africa (Ghana)
TV series, action spy thriller
Logline: Ghana, 1958. When the CIA, KGB, and MI6 turn the newly independent nation of Ghana into a proxy battlefield for the Cold War, a former Ghanaian soldier is tasked with forming the first African spy agency to protect Ghana’s newfound independence.
Team: Created by Carl Kwesi Earl-Ocran. Written and executive produced by Yule Caise and Earl-Ocran. Executive producers are André Holland, Patrick Wengler (Harper Road), Ana Emdin, and Yan Fisher (New State Pictures).
Bako (Nigeria)
Film, romance sci-fi
Dir, co-wr. Boma Iluma
Logline: In a near-future Nigeria where aliens live alongside humans, their otherworldly technology propels the nation into a powerful boom that divides society, placing a once-in-a-generation love on the fault line of a changing world.
Team: Iluma will co-write with Andres Fischer-Centeno.
The Return (Ghana)
Film, comedy horror
Wr-dir. Zoey Martinson
Logline: During a weekend getaway in Ghana, seven Gen Z friends, including four from the United States, accidentally disrespect an ancient deity in their beachfront Airbnb. What begins as a celebration of life and culture turns into a desperate struggle for survival, forcing the group to confront their identity, heritage, and the supernatural power of honouring the past, Sankofa.
Team: Kofi Owusu Afriyie is producing via his Luu Vision Media.
About Love & September Laws (Sudan)
Film, drama
Dir, co-wr. Mohamed Kordofani
Logline: Sudan, 1983. As Sharia Law takes hold, a doctor, a translator and a US reporter are entangled in love and resistance amid political upheaval.
Team: Kordofani will co-write with Khaled Alwaleed, his co-writer on the 2023 Cannes Un Certain Regard award winner Goodbye Julia. Khalid Awad and Kordofani will produce.
Jollof Wars (W Africa)
Film; comedy, fantasy musical
Dir. Hamid Ibrahim
Logline: In a world where chefs call on their ancestral spirits to cook, a talented orphan without a spirit must team up with a jaded heiress to reclaim the soul of West African cuisine in a magical cookery competition before generations of African recipes are erased from history.
Team: Kugali Media’s Ibrahim will direct from a screenplay by Matthew Corry and Olufikayo “Ziki” Nelson. Banky W, Adesua Etomi and Oluwanifewa “Nife” Agunbiade will star.
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