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JuVee Productions, the banner headed by Viola Davis and Julius Tennon, is branching into animation with a partnership that will see the Woman King shingle produce a slate of afro-anime films. JuVee is partnering with N Lite, a Black and Japanese-led media company and anime studio, on animated films that will focus on Black and afro-indigenous stories.

The first film under the deal will be an epic fantasy inspired by Congolese folklore, Mfinda, created by Congolese-American artist Patience Leiken and N Lite founder Christiano Terry. Donald H. Hewitt, Terry, and Lekien penned the scrrenplay, with D’Art Shtajio’s Arthell Isom set to co-direct, and Japanese screenwriter Mika Abe (Forest of Piano) attached for the Japanese screenplay.

Mfinda, which was announced at the 2023 Annecy International Animation Film Festival, will be produced alongside producer-distributor powerhouse Gkids, most recently in theaters with The Boy and the Heron, as well as Studio M...

Anime legends, producer Masao Maruyama and director Gisaburō Sugii, as well as U.S. animation producer and distributor Gkids, have joined global multimedia company N Lite and N Lite Japan to produce “Mfinda,” a first Afro-anime film which will be the subject of an in-depth first look at June’s Annecy Int’l Animation Film Festival.

Selected amongst the pitches this year at Annecy’s MIFA market in the feature film category, the N Lite original was created by Congolese-American artist Patience Lekien and Christiano Terry, founder-ceo of N Lite.

“Mfinda” follows a 12-year-old Congolese girl who is taken to the mfinda, a primordial forest teeming with spirits, gods and ancestors. There she meets up with another young girl from a different time and together they set out to find the magical Nkisi, vessels that hold ancestral spirits as well as empowering materials or medicines, that will help her find her way home.