Netflix announced that Queen Sono will release exclusively on Netflix worldwide on February 28, 2020.

After the assassination of her mother, Queen Sono grows up to become a kick- ass yet unconventional spy devoted to protecting the people of Africa. During a dangerous field assignment, Queen unknowingly uncovers shocking details about her mother’s death, sparking her own truth-finding mission.

Queen Sono will be available globally on February 28, 2020, at the same time in 190 countries across the world and is Netflix’s first script-to-screen, fully produced African original series with an all-African cast and crew

Queen Sono was in production for over eight weeks and was shot in 37 different locations across Africa, including the Johannesburg CBD, Sandton, Park Station, Soweto, Lagos, Kenya, and Zanzibar.

Viewers can expect diverse languages throughout the series, including English, Afrikaans, isiXhosa, isiZulu, Russian and French.

Queen Sono stars Vuyo Dabula playing Shandu, an ex-spy who has taken a different path. Sechaba Morojele plays Dr. Sid, director of the SOG, with Chi Mhende, Loyiso Madinga, and Rob Van Vuuren, playing agents on his team. Kate Liquorish plays Ekaterina, heiress of an oligarch family with ulterior motives. Khathu Ramabulana plays Queen’s childhood friend, William, now in a relationship with Enhle Mbali Mlotshwa’s character, Nova. Abigail Kubeka plays Mazet, Queen’s beloved Gogo, who has always supported Queen – no matter the trouble she gets herself into.

Queen Sono was created by Kagiso Lediga, with Camilo Saloojee, Christopher Steenkamp and Muzi Dlamini joining Lediga as the writing team. Lediga, as well as Tegobo Malope directed three episodes each of this 6-part Series. Executively produced by Tamsin Anderson and Lediga, Queen Sono is produced alongside Netflix, by Diprente.

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Netflix, the world’s leading internet entertainment service, has started production on its first original African series, Queen Sono, an action-packed spy thriller produced by Johannesburg-based Diprente.

Pearl Thusi is to star in the title role as an unconventional spy working for an undercover South African agency devoted to protecting the people of Africa.

The series will include an all-local cast including Vuyo Dabula playing Shandu, an ex-spy who has taken a different path. Sechaba Morojele will be seen as Dr Sid, director of the SOG, with Chi Mhende, Loyiso Madinga, and Rob Van Vuuren, playing agents on his team. Kate Liquorish’s character will be Ekaterina, heiress of an oligarch family with ulterior motives. Khathu Ramabulana will play Queen’s childhood friend, William, now in a relationship with Enhle Maphumulo’s Nova. Mazet, played by Abigail Kubekha, is Queen’s beloved Gogo, who has always supported Queen no matter the trouble she gets herself into.

Rounding out the talented supporting cast are Connie Chiume, Otto Nobela and James Ngcobo.

The six-part series is being produced by Diprente, the Johannesburg-based production company behind Catching Feelings and International Emmy nominated Late Nite News with Loyiso Gola. Showrunner and Director Kagiso Lediga, who was singlehandedly named as one of Fast Company’s Most Creative People 2019, will be joined by Director Tebogo Malope with both directing three episodes each. Impressively enough, is that Malope is in his own right an award-winning director with accolades from Cannes Lions and SAFTA awards under his belt. The team will be led by Executive Producer Tamsin Andersson.

So get your Netflix subscription, and your cuddle-buddy ready, because next year, Netflix and Chill will become Locally Lekker.

The series is expected to launch globally in 2020.

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2018 is turning out to be an exciting year for South African film. Five Fingers for Marseilles, a western that tells the story of a group of young men, the Five Fingers, who stand up to brutal police oppression in Marseilles, a town in the rugged badlands of the Eastern Cape opens at cinemas nationwide on 6 April. The film has already lit up the global festival circuit and has earned excellent reviews.

It tells the story of Tau, who kills two policemen, and is sentenced to 20 years in prison. When he gets out, the embittered ‘Lion of Marseilles’ discovers his comrades are now in prominent positions in the town. But there’s also a vicious new threat afoot, and so Tau must reform the Five Fingers and take on old allies and new enemies.

The film made its world premiere at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival and went on to screen at Fantastic Fest, BFI London Film Festival, and the Palm Springs International Film Festival. Since then, it has been receiving rave reviews.

After it screened at Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas, in late September, a festival review spoke of the world of the film as “a gorgeous, complex world,” calling ‘Five Fingers for Marseilles’ one of the most striking debuts of recent years, and naming it part of “a wave that will completely redefine the international perception of what African cinema can be.”

Five Fingers for Marseilles is the feature directorial debut of Michael Matthews, and the feature screenwriting debut of Sean Drummond. The film is produced by Asger Hussain and Yaron Schwartzman of Game 7 Films and Sean Drummond/Michael Matthews of Be Phat Motel Film Company. Dylan Voogt of Stage 5 Films is co-producer, and Paulo Areal and Dumi Gumbi serve as executive producers.

Casting began five years before production, with multiple generations of South African talent joining the project, from veteran stars Jerry Mofokeng, Kenneth Nkosi, Hamilton Dhlamini and Mduduzi Mabaso to relative newcomers Lizwi Vilakazi and Warren Masemola.  Vuyo Dabula, star of television’s ‘Generations’, steps into a career-defining lead role, carrying the film with flair, opposite Zethu Dlomo, fresh from her starring role in US drama series Black Sails.  Dean Fourie, Kenneth Fok, Brendon Daniels, Anthony Oseyemi, Garth Breytenbach, Tseko Monaheng, and Mosili Makuta round out a stellar supporting cast.

Written in English, the film was always intended to play in a local language, and Basotho screenwriter Mamokuena Makhema came on board as a translator and cultural advisor, consulting on language, culture and nuance, and ensuring the dialogue in Sesotho captured the poetry and depth of the original script.

Actors were given the freedom to look at their own lines and translations, too, and the film was written with the intention of allowing silence, allowing for removing dialogue and letting scenes play with emotional beats as per the script, but not necessarily the words themselves.

The film will have its African Premiere at Rapid Lion, the upcoming South African International Film Festival, and it will open at cinemas nationwide on 6 April. ‘Five Fingers for Marseilles’ is distributed in South Africa by Indigenous Film Distribution.

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