Downtown Africa
It’s been five years since Netflix launched in Nigeria. Since then, the streaming service has been able to add a wide variety of Nollywood films and series, and build strong relationships with local creators like Kunle Afolayan, bringing his classics like The CEO, October 1, The Figurine and, most recently, Citation, to its members around the world and shine a light on Nigerian culture, history, fashion, music, food and languages through his films.
“There’s never been a greater time for us, where you have so many Nigerian stories being shown to the whole world!”
Kunle Afolayan, Nigeria’s leading director and producer
In a statement, the company announced that it will expand on that through a new partnership with Kunle to produce and premiere three new diverse films: a historical drama, a folklore fantasy and a character drama. All three will be set in Nigeria, the first of which will be an adaptation of Nigerian-American novelist, short-story writer, playwright and screenwriter, Sefi Atta’s third novel, Swallow about a naive secretary whom, after a series of career woes, considers her roommate’s offer to work as a drug mule in mid-1980s Lagos.
The stories are diverse in genre, riveting in storyline and more importantly… uniquely Naija! But no one does these projects justice quite like Kunle.
Netflix’s Director of Content in Africa, Ben Amadasun
That’s why Netflix’s Director of Content in Africa, Ben Amadasun, recently caught up with Kunle – to get the details straight from the source. Netflix published a video of them, discussing the latest announcement:
