{"id":18002,"date":"2022-12-14T10:24:08","date_gmt":"2022-12-14T15:24:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev2.worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/argo-films-partners-david-oyelowos-yoruba-saxon\/"},"modified":"2022-12-14T10:24:08","modified_gmt":"2022-12-14T15:24:08","slug":"argo-films-partners-with-david-oyelowos-yoruba-saxon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/argo-films-partners-with-david-oyelowos-yoruba-saxon\/","title":{"rendered":"Argo Films Partners with David Oyelowo\u2019s Yoruba Saxon"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Richard Johns\u2019 Argo Films has teamed with David Oyelowo (<em>Selma<\/em>, <em>Les\u00a0Mis\u00e9rables<\/em>,<em> Spooks<\/em>) and his Yoruba Saxon Productions for <em>Biafra<\/em>, a six-hour event series being developed with the BBC.<\/p>\n<p>Set in the U.K. and Nigeria and told through the eyes of a young Black British woman, <em>Biafra<\/em>\u2019s story unfolds across two main time lines\u2014the present day and the 1967-70 Biafra War, a largely forgotten dark secret in the countries\u2019 shared history.\u00a0Bola\u00a0Agbaje\u00a0(<em>Gone Too Far<\/em>)\u00a0is\u00a0writing\u00a0the script, and Ngozi\u00a0Onwurah\u00a0(<em>Shoot the Messenger<\/em>, <em>Mama Africa<\/em>) is attached to direct.<\/p>\n<p>Executive producers for the series are Johns, Oyelowo, Turnover Films\u2019 Yvonne\u00a0Isimeme Ibazebo (<em>Rye Lane<\/em>, <em>Top Boy<\/em>, <em>Guerrilla<\/em>) and Fremantle\u2019s Christian Vesper\u00a0(<em>Top of the Lake<\/em>, <em>No Man\u2019s Land<\/em>).\u00a0Fremantle is attached to the project as a strategic partner.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy Nigerian heritage\u00a0and desire to see African stories told at the highest level has led to\u00a0<em>Biafra<\/em>\u00a0being one of my most treasured projects,\u201d Oyelowo said. \u201cMy parents married across the tabooed tribal lines of the Biafran conflict, and it shaped my life, much as it has done to millions of Nigerians. To be able to bring the amazing talents of director Ngozi Onwurah, who I first worked with on <em>Shoot the Messenger<\/em>, and writer Bola Agbaje, who I\u2019ve been seeking to work with for quite some time, makes this the definition of a passion project for me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Johns\u00a0said,\u00a0\u201cBritain and Nigeria have a hugely important,\u00a0multi-layered\u00a0and historic relationship, one that\u00a0is very much alive today. With this series,\u00a0we are setting ourselves the mission of telling an incredibly powerful story about discovering and reclaiming a lost identity and a forgotten history\u2014all with a truly authentic West African voice. We are so lucky to be working with Bola, Ngozi, Yvonne and David to bring this story to the screen.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUltimately, this\u00a0is a\u00a0universal\u00a0story about who we are\u00a0and making\u00a0sense of ourselves by knowing more about our ancestors and the world they lived and fought in.\u00a0<em>Biafra<\/em>\u00a0will be smart, thought-provoking, grounded in fact and gripping, while always accessible and entertaining; it\u00a0promises to be a\u00a0true\u00a0landmark\u00a0in limited-series storytelling.\u00a0As Argo Films was established to cross boundaries\u00a0and\u00a0tell\u00a0truly exceptional and\u00a0authentic stories, I could not have wished for a better first scripted project.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Vesper, president of global drama at Fremantle,\u00a0added, \u201cFremantle is delighted to\u00a0be a strategic partner with Argo Films alongside Yoruba Saxon on\u00a0this series, and we are excited to\u00a0begin conversations with\u00a0potential co-production and presale partners around the world. Richard,\u00a0David\u00a0and the team\u00a0are\u00a0creating\u00a0a unique drama that beautifully marries truth and fiction,\u00a0family\u00a0history with national history, working across\u00a0different locations\u00a0and timelines. These elements, combined with its universal themes about identity, family and belonging,\u00a0will\u00a0ensure\u00a0<em>Biafra<\/em>\u00a0becomes a hot property for\u00a0international drama partners\u00a0in 2023.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Richard Johns\u2019 Argo Films has teamed with David Oyelowo (Selma, Les\u00a0Mis\u00e9rables, Spooks) and his Yoruba Saxon Productions for Biafra, a six-hour event series being developed with the BBC.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1412,"featured_media":18003,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[70],"tags":[5647,237,5648,5649,912,499,2697,5650,5651,5652,5653],"class_list":["post-18002","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-top-stories","tag-argo-films","tag-bbc","tag-biafra","tag-bola-agbaje","tag-christian-vesper","tag-david-oyelowo","tag-fremantle","tag-ngozi-onwurah","tag-richard-johns","tag-yoruba-saxon-productions","tag-yvonne-isimeme-ibazebo","pmpro-has-access"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.7 - 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