“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.
It’s been five years since Netflix launched in Nigeria. Since then, we’ve been able to add a wide variety of Nollywood films and series, and build strong relationships with local creators like Kunle Afolayan. It’s been incredibly rewarding to bring his classics like The CEO, October 1, The Figurine and, most recently, Citation, to our members around the world and shine a light on Nigerian culture, history, fashion, music, food and languages through his films.
Today, we’re excited to 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, Seffi 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. 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.
Swallow
A new novel from the winner of the Wole Soyinka Prize for African LiteratureIt is the mid-1980s in Lagos, Nigeria, and the government’s War against Indiscipline is in full operation. Amid poverty and tight rules and regulations, women especially must sacrifice dignity and safety in order to find work and peace
It is the mid 1980s in Lagos and the government’s War Against Indiscipline and austerity measures are fully in operation. Tolani Ajao is a secretary working at Federal Community Bank. A succession of unfortunate events lead Tolani’s roommate and colleague, Rose, to persuade her to consider drug trafficking as an alternative means of making a living. Tolani’s subsequent struggle with temptation forces her to reconsider her morality and that of her mother Arike’s, as she embarks on a turbulent journey of self-discovery.
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