The third series of Shuga will be produced and filmed in Nigeria for the first time ever, utilising a predominantly Nigerian cast and crew. Celebrated Nigerian film-maker Biyi Bandele, director of the hotly anticipated feature film of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s “Half of a Yellow Sun”, will direct the 8-part series. Crafting the screenplay for Shuga is a team of Nigerian writers led by award-winning scriptwriter Kemi Adesoye (“Tinsel”, “The Figurine”, “Doctors Quarters”, “National Cake”), who was hand-picked for the project by Bandele after he saw her screenplay for “Phone Swap”.
Set in Lagos, Shuga series 3 will star Nigerian actor and musician Ikubese Emmanuel Ifeanyichukwu, aka 9con, who will reprise his role as smooth-talking bad boy Femi from Shuga series 2. Kenyan actor, singer and radio presenter Nick Mutuma, 24, a veteran of Shuga series 1 and 2, will revisit the role of Leo, one of Shuga’s most popular characters. A number of popular Nigerian musicians are also expected to be involved in cameo and acting roles, following hit turns by Banky W and WizKid in Shuga season 2. Further cast members and roles will be revealed at a later date.
The third series of Shuga will see the action move to Lagos following two seasons set among the bars, hangout joints and clubs of Nairobi, Kenya. Specific themes that will be addressed in the series include the reality of living with HIV in Nigeria, maternal and child health, family planning, teen pregnancy, gender-based violence, gender equality and women’s empowerment. Pre-production of the hard-hitting, multi-episode drama is already well underway and principal photography is scheduled to take place in August/September 2013. The series will premiere on MTV Base (DStv Channel 322), Nigerian terrestrial broadcasters and other MTV networks and third party broadcasters around the world from World AIDS Day (1 December 2013).
Shuga is a hard-hitting drama that follows the lives, loves and ambitions of a group of young people whose bright lives and fabulous futures are balanced on a knife edge due to their love of living dangerously. It is to be produced by MTV Base and the MTV Staying Alive Foundation in collaboration with NACA, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and UNFPA (United Nations Population Fund). Other partners include Girl Hub, a partnership between the Nike Foundation and the UK’s Department of International Development (DFID) which helps transform the lives of adolescent girls living in poverty by engaging the girls themselves as active participants. PEPFAR (The US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief) has also expressed a commitment to support the campaign.
No comments:
Post a Comment