Zoe Ramushu (Zimbabwe) and Reabetswe Moeti's (South Africa) production Real Estate Sisters has received 4 million rands in funding from Netflix and the National Film & Video Foundation. The 28 million rand fund saw 6 projects being selected for funding from a total number of 284 submissions. Netflix and the National Film & Video Foundation contributed each 14 million rand to the project which will see 6 films being developed in South Africa and premiering on Netflix.
Zoe is the producer of the project while her business partner Rea Moeti who is the writer and director. The two were funded for their production Real Estate Sisters under Rare View Media. They were not able to share the details of the project just yet but it is set to be on Netflix in 2022! The two however expressed how honoured they were by the selection.
It's a global opportunity, Netflix is in over 190 countries and this means our story, our voice, what we have to offer, will be shared and experienced across the world.
It feels unreal but also so right at the same time. Unreal because this an amazing opportunity but so right because ultimately this alignment and the beginnings of what we’ve been praying and preparing for.
Netflix's Director of content in Africa Ben Amadasun said, "It's been so amazing to go through all the submissions and see all the great stories by South African creatives. We feel that the 6 selected submissions to be produced will showcase some of the best-in-class across multiple genres that we are excited to bring to audiences in South Africa and around the world. We are merely at the beginning of our journey of discovering new and nurturing emerging talent in South Africa."
Zoe was a producer on "To The Plate" which was shortlisted for the Student BAFTA Awards (However it did not progress beyond that) and she worked as director and producer on “It Takes A Circus” alongside directors Gopika Ajan and Annick Laurent and their production was a finalist for the 48th Student Academy Awards (Oscars). The filmmaker and producer was the first Zimbabwean woman to be selected for this honor and you can read more about it here.