Article by : John-Otto Phike
Known Associates Entertainment, co-founded by Tshepiso Chikapa Phiri and Dan Jawitz signed a historic deal with Radiodiffusion Télévision Ivoirienne (RTI), the national broadcaster of Côte d’Ivoire, to co-develop and co-produce a 6 x 1HR sci-fi/drama series called AMBRE.
“In the vein of ‘American Gods’ and ‘Black Earth Rising’, Ambre is a futuristic action thriller about courage, hope and the heroism of youth in desperate times. The story is anchored in the love of music, hip-hop, informed by the controversial history of chemical and biological weapons in Africa, all wrapped in the mysticism of Credo Mutwa’s literature”, noted Maema.
South African National broadcaster, SABC has already pre-licenced the Afro–futurist Action/Thriller scheduled for flighting in 2022. “Ambre epitomizes Known Associates’ vision for creating premium African global content. We are thrilled to pioneer Co-Productions between African countries across languages and cultures for a worldwide audience. Through this deal a South African Production Company supported by a National Broadcaster (SABC) will work directly with a francophone West African national broadcaster (RTI), as well as international partners, on this milestone co-production.
Renée Williams, Head of Local Productions at The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) noted: “We continue to seek meaningful partnerships on the Continent where we can co-create new formats and stories that drive African storytelling. Our aim with this partnership is to create an environment to maximise opportunities for the best ideas, talents and partnerships in an increasingly competitive and global environment.” Ana Ballo, Director of RTI Distribution is looking forward to bringing the project to life. “It is a real pleasure but also a real challenge to pull off such an ambitious project with our South African partner and counterparts. We really hope that this project will be backed up by both governments and by private sector sponsors to reach the level we are aiming for” said Ana. To demonstrate the level of partnership and commitment of the partners, the series will be shot in South Africa and in Côte d’Ivoire with actors drawn from both countries. Similarly, the language mix will contain the same proportion of English to French.
