African films enter Netflix catalogue

African films are making a debut on Netflix.

"Santana" is an action film that shows the rivalry between two brothers and police officers in the fight against organized crime.

It is a co-production between Angola and South Africa, directed by Maradona Dias dos Santos and Chris Roland, which premieres on August 28th on Netflix.

Santana is the first film from Angola, and the second from the Portuguese-speaking African Countries to be included in the platform's catalogue, which is accessible almost worldwide.

"They are believing in us - Angola and Mozambique," Maradona Dias dos Santos, the film's director, explained.

"Music spreads all over the world, people know the singers, but cinema has always been a local thing, a domestic thing."

"Now we realise that this is changing. We want to tell our story. We are capable, we want to be part of it. We don't hide anymore."

Also accessible on Netflix is "Redemption" (originally titled "Resgate"), an independent Mozambican film that was written, directed and produced by Mickey Fonseca. 

It tells the story of a young man who is forced into the world of crime.

Making independent cinema is not easy: writing and finding money for the film took six years, but it became a hit in Mozambican cinemas.

Entering the Netflix catalogue is a new way to continue this success story.

"There are, unfortunately, only four cinemas in the country," director Mickey Fonseca explained.

"But with these four cinemas, we managed to stay eight weeks and almost ten thousands people went to see the film."

"We took people to the cinema who had never been to the cinema before. People are very proud, they love the film. Now, with Netflix, the film has come to life again, it seems like the premiere was yesterday."

"We are very happy. We were expecting the film to have a big impact, but not in this way. Especially here in Mozambique."

The Netflix catalogue now has a little more Portuguese language films. 

This may be a step towards making Africa's audiovisual production more visible and better known worldwide.