Madeleine Hunt-Ehrlich’s ‘Ballad of Suzanne Césaire’ Follow-Up Joins Inaugural Slate From ‘Pan-African Film Studio’ Yetu (Un)Limited (EXCLUSIVE)

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Among the projects that the pan-African production company Yetu (Un)Limited plans to present to potential collaborators during the European Film Market are “The Sophomore Film” from director Madeleine Hunt-Ehrlich, who directed “The Ballad of Suzanne Césaire”, and the feature film debut of up-and-coming Senegalese filmmaker Awa Moctar Gueye.

A group of five innovative content creators aiming to tap into the burgeoning power of African and diaspora-related material, Yetu (Un)Limited, has been chosen as one of the five participants in this year’s Company Matching program at the Berlinale Co-Production Market.

In 2024, Yetu (Un)Limited was established as a venture by Yanis Gaye, Melissa Adeyemo, Carol Kioko, Ike Yemoh, and Chloe Ortolé, who had crossed paths at a workshop organized by the European Audiovisual Entrepreneurs (EAVE). This gathering ultimately led to their decision to join forces and create this new company.

Frequently, when African producers visit a place like EAVE, they’re often reminded of the need to connect beyond the continent, Adeyemo explains to EbMaster. What became crucial for us was establishing connections and discovering methods to collaborate with one another.

As a film enthusiast, I’ve embarked on an exciting journey with fellow producers, collectively transforming our independent ventures into a unified pan-African film studio. By combining our resources and expertise, we aim to make a significant impact in the creative filmmaking process, from concept development to marketing and screening, as I believe that unity amplifies our influence.

The ongoing lineup of our company features “Days of the Dog,” a forthcoming work by Hunt-Ehrlich, serving as a sequel to her critically acclaimed debut “Ballad.” After its Rotterdam premiere last year, it was praised as an “enchanting daydream” by EbMaster. The story revolves around Dot, a quiet Black American woman in her mid-twenties, who grapples with solitude in a foreign city and develops a perplexing bond with the enigmatic artist Leonardo. We at Yetu (Un)Limited are actively seeking international funding and collaborative partners, particularly in Germany, the UK, France, and the MENA region.

Joseph Gaï Ramaka’s newest work, titled ‘Black Battle With Dogs’, follows his 2001 musical romance ‘Karmen Geï’ which premiered in Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight sidebar. This film is based on a play by Bernard Marie Koltès and is described as a heartbreaking, magical story that explores the intense passions of colonial times and the emotions of men and women as they stand on the verge of change.

On the initial lineup comes “Safara,” which is Awa Moctar Gueye’s first full-length film. In 2023, his short film, “Timis,” debuted in the Generation section of the Berlinale. In her inaugural effort, Gueye employs fantastical elements to narrate a tale about a 15-year-old girl who encounters a dead woman in her working-class Dakar community and pursues enigmatic indicators to unravel the truth surrounding the main suspect.

This week, as producers search for global collaborators in Berlin, Adeyemo emphasizes their primary objective: creating a diverse portfolio of films encompassing everything from genre masterpieces to artistically driven cinematography. Additionally, they aim to establish a distribution network that will nurture and promote this content effectively.

She points out that we’ve entered a fresh era in movie distribution and presentation, where numerous untapped audiences have emerged, which the conventional market has yet to acknowledge. In particular, when it comes to African or African diasporic content, these viewership demographics are significantly broader than we’ve previously recognized.

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2025-02-15 10:16