Nosipho Dumisa
While the SABC reels in a fog of repeats of repeats because of financial mismanagement and corruption, Netflix is coming through for the South African TV industry by putting their money and belief into our local production houses and actors.
Today the streamer announced a second South African Netflix Original series: Blood & Water.
The directing team will be led by award winning director Nosipho Dumisa, director of the acclaimed local film Nommer 37, and Nommer 37 producers Gambit Films will be producing.
The series is described by Netflix as a teen-led series featuring up and coming South African talent.
It tells the story of a teen who uncovers secrets about her family's past while navigating the complicated world of a South African high school.
This from Nosipho about it:
"Gambit Films and I are so excited to be working with Netflix on this explosive young adult drama, with not only a cool look at strong female leads but also a powerful mystery at its core.
As a director who loves genre, this series combines the best of so many and isn't shy to delve into the real issues of youth culture, whilst jam-packing it with twists that will keep viewers guessing."
This isn't Nosipho's first stint directing a contemporary youth drama. She was one of the directors on the kykNET & Kie dance drama series danZ!, which was also produced by Gambit Films.
She's also one of the original producers of kykNET & Kie's soapie Suidooster.
For Blood & Water she'll be joined by her Nommer 37 cohorts Daryne Joshua and Travis Taute who are writing the series and co-directing with her. Travis was the head writer on danZ!, and also co-directed.
Nommer 37 and danZ! co-producers Bradley Joshua and Benjamin Overmeyer are producing Blood & Water and Simon Beesley will be lead editor.
According to Kelly Luegenbiehl, Netflix's VP of International Originals for Europe, Turkey and Africa:
"We are delighted to be investing further in African content and to partner with Nosipho and the team at Gambit Films to bring our second original series from South Africa to Netflix.
Great stories are universal, so we expect this gripping teen drama, with its view on contemporary high school life, to appeal to young adults from South Africa, as well as the rest of the world. Following on the heels of Queen Sono, Blood & Water is the next step in our further investment in original African content and we're excited to explore more projects across the region."
Clearly Netflix is only just warming up in Africa.
As we told you last week, they've also just bought their first acquired local series
Shadow, which loads on 8 March.
Blood & Water will film this year and launches in 2020, in 190 countries. We'll keep you posted once the cast has been confirmed.