Streaming giant Netflix has acquired Senegalese feature film Atlantics, the winner of the Grand Prix award at the just concluded 2019 Cannes Film Festival. Indiewire reports.
Atlantics, a drama film about sexual politics among young migrants, is a feature debut of French-Senegalese filmmaker Mati Diop making her the first woman of African descent with a film in the 72-year-old festival’s Competition section. Her entry earned her the second-most prestigious prize of the festival after the Palme d’Or.
Netflix has signed international rights (excludes China, Benelux, Switzerland, Russia and France) for the Grand Prix winner. The company also signed the rights to an animated film I Lost My Body, which won the Cannes Critics’ Week Award. However, the company has not announced when the films will be released on the platform.
The acquisition represents Netflix’s ongoing aggressive interest for Africa motion picture sector in recent times where there is still a relatively untapped source of talents and contents.
The news comes just months after Netflix announced its first original African series, Queen Sono, starring veteran South African actress Pearl Thusi (Quantico), as well as Mama K’s Team 4, its first African animated original.
Earlier this year, it announced its acquisition of South African drama Shadow, which was released globally as a Netflix Original on March 8.
Also, at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF 2018), the streamer acquired Nigerian drama Lionheart, the directorial debut of Nollywood veteran actress Genevieve Nnaji. It was also picked as a Netflix Original movie and was released worldwide on January 4, 2019.
