Black Sands Entertainment, a comic-book publisher dedicated to creating strong Black characters inspired by African history, and Carl Reed’s Composition Media announce a multi-million dollar production deal with the goal of setting a new standard for high-quality content that celebrates African heritage and empowers Black youth. Their first collaboration will be an anime-style TV series adaptation of the comic Black Sands: The Seven Kingdoms.
Black Sands: The Seven Kingdoms is a geopolitical story that follows a young boy named Ausar whose life goal is to rule Kemet. This aspiration leads him on a journey to far-off lands in the ancient world. Along the way, he confronts complicated issues involving wars and ancient gods that seek his death, accompanied by his kinfolk Seth, Auset and Nehbet.
Founded by Manuel and Geiszel Godoy, Black Sands Entertainment announced in November that the company had secured investment from Kevin Hart and Mark Cuban after appearing on entrepreneurial pitch show Shark Tank. The partnership with Composition Media marks the publisher’s first foray into the anime space.
Reed, producer of the Academy Award-winning short Hair Love, launched Composition Media earlier this year as a diverse and forward-thinking animation studio. Composition Media is also developing the 2D animated adult-comedy Bad Grandmas, a feature film co-produced alongside Steve Harvey’s East 112; Sky & Luna, the first movie in an eight-picture slate partnership with Labid Aziz’s PoC Studios and Man of Action Entertainment; and Catapult Feud, a TV series based on the critically acclaimed board game of the same name.
“We’re deeply honored to collaborate with Black Sands Entertainment on such a groundbreaking project,” said Reed. “We have an unparalleled opportunity to breathe life into beloved comic stories through the medium of anime, connecting youth with characters and narratives to which they can relate. This venture extends beyond mere entertainment — it’s about affirming identity and igniting ambition in a generation that rightfully deserves to see themselves portrayed heroically on screen.”
Manuel Godoy, Chief Executive Officer of Black Sands \ Entertainment, added, “We’re thrilled to be partnering with Carl Reed and Composition Media to help us reach a much larger audience and bring our Black Sands comic books to life through anime. This is a major milestone for our company as this partnership will enable us to further fulfill our dream of showing the rich history of our people before slavery, a topic hardly ever mentioned in entertainment today.”
This progressive partnership agreement allows creators control over the developing property along with mutual collaboration during production, combining the creative vision of Black Sands Entertainment with Composition Media’s animation production expertise.
