s per a media advisory shared by the Presidency of South Africa, President Cyril Ramaphosa on Thursday, 17 March 2022, visited Project Panda – the working title for Netflix’s live action anime series, One Piece, which is currently shooting on location at the Cape Town Film Studios.
The visit by the President allowed Netflix, as the world’s leading global streaming service, and its local partners Film Afrika to showcase the Project Panda production and its contribution to South Africa’s creative industry.
The President was guided on an interactive tour that included visual effects & stunt demonstrations and a conversation with four (of the more than 30) trainees who are part of the massive project.
The aim was to give President Ramaphosa a deeper understanding of the impact of Netflix’s investments in the creative industries and adjacent industries, including tourism, small business, and supply chain economies.
The President was hosted by the Netflix team and Film Afrika during the hour-long set tour.
“Job creation, especially for young people, is setting the frontline locally and internationally. Hearing about investments like this in South Africa is something we cherish. The creative industry is the perfect sector to create jobs”, said President Cyril Ramaphosa during his visit.
One Piece is Netflix’s biggest production project in Africa to date – both in terms of scale and budget, covering South African labour, infrastructure and suppliers.
One Piece, which is filmed in Cape Town, involves more than 50 South African cast members; more than 1 000 crew member jobs (consisting of 67% previously disadvantaged individuals and 46% youth employees), as well an Academy of Creative Excellence (ACE) mentorship programme for more than 30 young creatives and technicians in collaboration with the SA Film Academy during 2022.
The visit follows the announcement by Netflix six months ago of funding that will go towards film & television scholarships and cancelling student debts, and will support the Independent Black Filmmakers Collective.
In September 2021, Netflix announced a commitment of US $400 000 (approximately R5.5 million) to support black creatives in the South African film and television industry.
The Netflix Black Creatives Empowerment Fund will be implemented in a two-pronged approach: the first being a grant of around R1.4 million to the Independent Black Filmmakers Collective and the second of more than R4m designated for fully-funded scholarships and student debt relief at higher education institutions in South Africa.
Project Panda is in production at the internationally renowned Cape Town Film Studios.
ABOUT ONE PIECE: One Piece is a live-action pirate adventure series, based on one of the best-selling manga series of all time. One Piece is executive produced by Steven Maeda, Matt Owens, Marty Adelstein, Becky Clements and Eiichiro Oda, and stars Iñaki Godoy, Mackenyu, Emily Rudd, Jacob Romero Gibson, Taz Skylar, Morgan Davies, Ilia Isorelýs Paulino, Aidan Scott, Jeff Ward, McKinley Belcher III and Vincent Regan, among others to be announced.
ABOUT FILM AFRIKA ENTERTAINMENT: Film Afrika is the African continent’s leading producer of international films and television series, providing world-class production services to the international film & tv community. The business brings together the country’s most experienced and sought-after creative talent, production personnel, technical, legal, business, and financial personnel to provide a fully integrated infrastructure on par with the best in the world. Film Afrika manages all local production, legal, corporate, compliance and financial matters for our international clients.
ABOUT NETFLIX: Netflix is the world’s leading streaming entertainment service with 222 million paid memberships in over 190 countries enjoying TV series, documentaries, feature films and mobile games across a wide variety of genres and languages.
