JuVee Productions, led by Viola Davis and Julius Tennon, has forged an animated film slate pact with N LITE, a Black- and Japanese-led media company which debuted its first afrime (afro-anime) feature film project Mfinda at the 2023 MIFA Pitches in Annecy. The partnership will focus on animated films telling Black and afro-indigenous stories, and will extend to merchandise and graphic novels.
First on the partners’ docket is N LITE original Mfinda, an epic fantasy inspired by Congolese folklore. The story follows a 13-year-old girl who is transported to the Mfinda, a primordial forest of spirits, gods and ancestors. There she joins another young girl from a different time, and embarks on a journey to find the magical Nkisi in hopes of finding her way back home.
The film’s concept was created by Congolese-American artist Patience Leiken and N LITE founder Christiano Terry, who wrote the screenplay with Donald H. Hewitt. Arthell Isom, CEO & Art Director of the groundbreaking D’ART Shtajio (the first American-owned and first Black-owned anime studio in Japan; Star Wars Visions – The Pit), will co-direct. Japanese writer Mika Abe (Forest of Piano) is attached for the Japanese screenplay.
Mfinda is being produced by N LITE Japan with leading indie and import animation producer-distributor GKIDS and celebrated anime producer Masao Maruyama (Tokyo Godfathers) and Taro Maki (In This Corner of the World) of Studio M2. Shin Koyamada and Shigeru Igari are the project’s producers at N LITE, working with Davis, Tennon and JuVee’s Head of Film, Melanie Clark, as we as GKIDS’ Eric Beckman.
[Source: Hollywood Reporter]
