Play Network Studios and Mondjila Studios have embarked on a Pan-African collaboration that would etch a new chapter in the history of African filmmaking.
Their ambitious project, aptly titled “The Skeleton Coast,” was set against the backdrop of Namibia’s enigmatic Skeleton Coast, a place known to local bushmen tribes as ‘The Land God Made in Anger.’
Here, a surreal landscape unfurled, with over a thousand vessels strewn along the coastline like the skeletal remains of a forgotten maritime graveyard.
The coast was a paradox, untouched and pristine in its natural beauty, yet haunted by the history of countless shipwrecks, where the bones of whales, seals, and other unique wildlife and marine life lay as silent witnesses to the passage of time.
Charles Okpaleke of Play Network Studios, a torchbearer for modern African storytelling, and Panashe Daringo of Mondjila Studios, a powerhouse in Namibian filmmaking, embarked on a journey that transcended borders. Their mission was to champion Pan-Africanism through a collaborative film production of unprecedented scale.
Principal photography for “The Skeleton Coast” had already commenced in Namibia, under the watchful eye of the renowned director, Robert O. Peters. According to the producers of the film, the project was in the capable hands of Rogers Ofime, an internationally acclaimed producer with an eye for detail and storytelling finesse and Arafat Bello-Osagie both of Play Network Studios,
The cast includes a tapestry of African talent spanning multiple nations: Thapelo Mokoena from South Africa, Ini Dima-Okojie from Nigeria, Tjuna Daringo representing Namibia, Mawuli Gavor hailing from Ghana, Cindy Mahlangu of South Africa, and Damilola Adegbite, another Nigerian luminary. Joining this assembly of Pan-African talent was none other than Eric Roberts, a Golden Globe and Academy Award-nominated actor with a four-decade legacy of international acting experience.
