Boutique Streamer Topic Deepens African Creative Community Ties By Acquiring South Africa And Senegal Academy Award Submissions

Boutique Streamer Topic Deepens African Creative Community Ties By Acquiring South Africa And Senegal Academy Award Submissions

EXCLUSIVE: Boutique streamer Topic has deepened ties with the African creative community by acquiring North American streaming rights to former Academy Award submissions from South Africa and Senegal, along with movies from Kenya and Ghana.


Call Me Thief (South Africa) and Nafi’s Father (Senegal) will drop on the platform later this month alongside Softie (Kenya) and Gold Coast Lounge (Ghana)


Call Me Thief first aired in 2016 and follows Abraham, who gets arrested for a petty crime and raises his status in prison by captivating hardened gangsters with his knack for telling stories. Nafi’s Father was last year’s Senegalese entry to the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film and showcases a fight between an Imam and his powerful brother over their children’s marriage.

Meanwhile, Kenyan doc Softie tells the story of political activist Boniface “Softie” Mwangi and the Afro-Noir Gold Coast Lounge follows a crime family having to clean up their act before the government shuts down their private lounge.


Topic GM Ryan Chanatry said the films “further our goal of building strong relationships with the African creative community” and are “part of our mission to introduce elevated international stories to viewers in the U.S. and Canada.”


The acquisitions come six months after Topic partnered with Statement Films to support, develop and finance projects from African and diaspora female creators.


Jennifer Liang, VP of Acquisitions at Topic negotiated the deals with Jenna-Lee Burns at Gravel Road Films for Call Me Thief and Gold Coast Lounge, Maba Ma at Joye Didi for Nafi’s Father and Ian Stimler at Icarus Films for Softie.