Next Narrative Africa Fund Announces its Inaugural Slate of Projects.

The Next Narrative Africa Fund (NNAF) has unveiled its first slate of development projects, including productions involving Africa-based and diaspora filmmakers, selected from more than 2,000 global submissions. NNAF is a $40 million mission-driven content and media fund that invests in commercially viable audio-visual content made on the Continent by African and African-diaspora storytellers. 

Launched in late 2024 by fund CEO Akunna Cook, NNAF’s goal is to change the narrative about Africa and people of African descent by telling African stories for global impact. By making funds available for selected filmmakers, the fund aims to fuel the growth of the creative industries in Africa, empower artists by promoting business and intellectual property ownership, and contribute to sustainable livelihoods across Africa and its diaspora. 

This slate includes projects from storytellers across Africa and the diaspora, bringing world class entertainment and filmmakers intending to cause narrative shifting images to the globe. The Next Narrative Africa Fund requires at least 50% production on the continent and the selected projects represent over $60 million of production budget coming to Africa, along with the jobs and economic development that the creative industries bring around the world. 

The inaugural slate of nine projects announced by Cook on Thursday includes South African action picture Beyond Day Zero, produced by Trevor Noah with Sanaz Yamin and Rebekah Cheyne for Day Zero Productions, as well as Kevin Schmutzler, Toby Schmutzler, Stefan Brunner, Danielle Turkov Wilson, and Amy Shepherd. Think-Film will be the impact producer.

Beyond Day Zero is written by award-winning South African writer Amy Jephta whose screenplay is based on an original story by the Schmutzler brothers, with previous credits including Kenya’s 2025 Oscars submission Nawi. 

The second South African project supported by the fund is Amanda Lane’s action drama Skunk, starring Thuso Mbedu, who also takes co-writer and producer credits alongside Vee Mpakanyiswa and Megan Kruger. It revolves around two fashion models who mastermind a heist to steal government gold jewelry to buy back ancestral land.

The fund announced two Nigerian projects including Innocent, a Lagos-set whodunnit to be directed by Arie Esiri from a screenplay he wrote with his twin brother-collaborator Chuko Esiri. The Esiri brothers broke out with their Berlinale-selected 2020 feature debut Eyimofe (This is My Desire), while their upcoming film Clarissa, starring Sophie Okonedo, David Oyelowo and Ayo Edebiri, was recently acquired by Neon for theatrical release in the U.S.

The second Nigerian title is Bako, a Nigerian sci-fi romance from director and writer Boma Iluma. Iluma will co-write with Andres Fischer-Centeno.

From a Sierra Leone-UK production comes an untitled political thriller which Andrew “Rapman” Onwubolu, Supacell creator, is attached to as co-writer, director and producer with Mouktar Mohamed and Victor Mukete. The untitled film revolves around a quiet 25-year-old Sierra Leonean soldier who is thrust into power after a bloodless coup, only to find that ruling a country is far more dangerous than overthrowing its democratic leaders. 

From Sudan comes a political thriller Mohamed Kordofani’s About Love & September Laws. The director made Goodbye Julia and has co-written the screenplay of this funded feature with Khaled Alwaleed. Set in 1983 Sudan, as Sharia Law takes hold, a doctor, a translator and an American reporter are entangled in love and resistance amid political upheaval.

Other supported projects include Ghanaian spy thriller United States of Africa. Created by Carl Kwesi Earl-Ocran, written and executive produced by Yule Caise and Earl-Ocran. Executive producers are André Holland, Patrick Wengler (Harper Road), Ana Emdin, and Yan Fisher (New State Pictures). Set in Ghana 1958, as the newly independent country becomes the site of a proxy war involving the CIA, KGB, and MI6, the film follows a former Ghanaian soldier tasked with forming the first-ever African spy agency.

Zoey Martinson‘s comedy-horror The Return,  from Ghana, is produced by Kofi Owusu Afriyie at Luu Vision Media. The Return is a comedy horror that follows seven Gen Z friends, one Airbnb, one very angry deity. 

Lastly, Jollof Wars, directed by Hamid Ibrahim from a screenplay by Matthew Corry and Olufikayo “Ziki” Nelson is a West African musical comedy fantasy starring Banky W, Adesua Etomi and Oluwanifewa “Nife” Agunbiade. 

These nine projects were selected from across Africa and the diaspora “because they are commercially compelling, culturally resonant, and globally relevant,” said Cook. According to Cook, NNAF is investing in developing world class entertainment that will be produced in Africa by top talent as they build an investable asset class. “These projects represent over $60 million in production in Africa. By pairing world-class storytelling with key financing and data validation, we are shaping the African narrative, positioning it for global investment, and sustaining thousands of jobs and economic development across Africa.”

The final selection was made with support from Parrots Analytics under a new partnership announced last month aimed at adding an extra layer of diligence to the decision making process.