SABC3 is adding two foreign telenovelas in April to complement its new locally-produced telenovela, The Estate, with both Orphans of a Nation from Brazil and The Red Room from Turkey joining the channel's schedule.
Orphans of a Nation (Órfãos da Terra) created by the Emmy Award winners Thelma Guedes and Duca Rachid tells the harrowing love story set within the modern-day context of refugees and immigrants from around the world who leave their countries for various reasons.
Orphans of a Nation that won an Emmy for best telenovela in 2020 starts in war-torn Syria and follows characters as they flee as refugees to Brazil. The telenovela will be broadcast from Mondays to Wednesdays from Monday 5 April at 18:30.
In the telenovela, Laila (Julia Dalavia) and Jamil (Renato Góes) arrive in Brazil to try to live the love that united them while they were still in the Middle East but she is a Syrian refugee and he is an employee of the powerful Sheik Aziz Abdallah, who forcibly took Laila as one of his wives.
"Orphans of a Nation has a great big love story at the centre of it but it also manages to place the drama in the real world of our time," says Pat van Heerden, SABC3 channel head.
"It awakens in us a sense of our connections as a country to the plight of our own refugees in South Africa that too have their love stories and pain from fleeing their native lands."
On Thursdays and Fridays at 18:30, SABC3 is scheduling the Turkish telenovela The Red Room (Kirmizi Oda) that premieres on Thursday 8 April and that is set inside a therapy clinic.
The Red Room - so-called for the colour of the practice's therapist Doctor Hanim (Binnur Kaya) - is based on the real-life experiences of an Istanbul doctor and writer Gülseren Budayicioglu.
"Thematically the show deals with the idea of confronting past trauma to be able to come into one’s full potential life - it depicts woman dramatically dealing with past abuse to want to live again," says Pat van Heerden.
"All of the fictional characters dramatized stories are based on real-life characters. This show will go out twice a week and it is meant to connect with the present South Africa we live in, where so many women live with abuse in their daily lives – here in The Red Room we see dramatic stories of hope and recovery."
The episodes are built around harrowing stories of the patients, while at the centre of the drama is the team of therapists in the clinic, and their own personal issues. These stories will be familiar to women, men and even children around the world and will open the eyes of many more.
"The Red Room is about reaching out as a real public service broadcaster to show a programme about overcoming violence and trauma in a community through therapy," says Pat van Heerden.
Orphans of a Nation and The Red Room lead into The Estate at 19:00 as SABC3's new locally-produced telenovela that replaces Isidingo.
