South African TV series Spinners has come out on top after beating Succession for the coveted Best Foreign TV Series award at the 29th Shanghai TV Festival’s Magnolia Awards, one of the biggest accolades in Asia.
The first season of the Showmax Original faced stiff competition from BAFTA-nominated All Creatures Great and Small S4, Emmy-winning final season of Succession, La Storia and Aspergirl.
“Amazing news. It’s the very first time a South African series makes it to Shanghai and wins it, so of course we are very proud,” said co-creator and showrunner Benjamin Hoffman.
I hope personally it is opening a gate for production from South Africa to travel all around the globe and for new audiences to discover the quality and the specificity of South African productions,” added Hoffman.
A co-production between Showmax and CANAL+, Spinners is co-created by Joachim Landau and showrunner Benjamin Hoffman of Empreinte Digitale, with the story developed by and head written by SAFTA and Silwerskerm winners Sean Steinberg and Matthew Jankes.
The first African series ever selected for CanneSeries, Spinners follows Ethan (breakout star Cantona James), a 17-year-old driver working for a local gang.
Needing to support his younger brother but increasingly disgusted with gang life, Ethan discovers a possible way out via spinning, an extreme motorsport.
Spinners also won three awards at the inaugural Dakar Series: Best TV Series, Best Performance (Cantona James), and Best Editing for Andrea Shaw and Matthew Swanepoel. The series was also featured on International Trade Deadline as part of their Global Breakouts strand.
SAFTA and Silwerskerm winner Jaco Bouwer directs while the English/Kaaps series is co-produced by Locarno, Amiens and FESPACO winner Ramadan Suleman from Natives at Large, Spinners’ local co-production company.
Spinners is currently streaming on Showmax.
Words: Fame Frenzy
