by Thinus Ferreira
Showmax has released the first official trailer for its long-gestating 12-episode African fantasy drama series, Blood Psalms, from Yellowbone Entertainment which will make its debut on Showmax on 28 September with weekly episodes.
Blood Psalms which faced several delays mostly due to a lack of promised funding from the South African government in the country's film rebate scheme, was supposed to debut in October 2021, was then moved to February 2022, missed the February 2022 release date, and is finally being released in September 2022 - a year later than originally planned.
Blood Psalms, a R85 million co-production between MultiChoice's video streaming service and Canal+, is touted as the largest and most expensive TV series ever filmed on South African soil.
Filmed in the Eastern Cape, Gauteng and North West provinces with a massive cast, the Showmax Original from creators Layla Swart and Jahmil X.T. Qubeka will have its world premiere next Wednesday on 24 August in Cape Town as the opening screening at MIP Africa as part of FAME Week Africa.
Here's the trailer:
Blood Psalms is set in "Ancient Africa" 1 000 years after the fall of Atlantis, the five
surviving houses of Kemet find themselves beset with fears of a prophesied end
of days.
Bokang
Phelane is Princess Zazi, a teenage princess, with Mothusi
Magano as her
father, the mad king Letsha. Zolisa Xaluva is General Toka, the head of her father's Akachi army.
The rest of the cast includes Bongile Mantsai, Hamilton Dlamini, Hlubi Mboya, S'dumo Mtshali, Siv Ngesi), Thishiwe Ziqubu, Warren Masemola, Enhle Mbali Mlotshwa, Niza Jay, Richard Lukunku, Sello Maake kaNcube, Thando Thabethe, Thembekile Komani, Zikhona Sodlaka, Faniswa Yisa, Faith Baloyi, Lemogang Tsipa and Thabo Rametsi.
"Blood Psalms is the
biggest and most ambitious series we've ever made, completely unlike any other
African series you've ever seen," says Nomsa Philiso, MultiChoice's head of programming, in a prepared press release.
Bokang Phelane says "This
show was specifically created as a reimagining of ourselves as Africans, as an
answer to ‘Who are we?’ It's done in a very entertaining way,
with a lot of drama and action."
Mothusi Magano in the press release says "Blood
Psalms is
a heck of a ride and it's never been done before".
"For Africans,
mostly, our history goes back 200 years. That's what we've been given, and it's
from Western perspectives. We really don't know anything much about our own
history. So Blood Psalms
poses a lot of questions and will give people a lot to think about."
Sello Maake kaNcube says "One
thing that was brilliant for us was no use of an English word, whatsoever. That was a big challenge even for a lot of actors, you
know, because most of the time we are used to performing and doing a mixture of
African languages and English. This time, the dialogue is purely in African
languages."
Layla Swart in the Showmax press release says "What
we're trying to do is to reclaim the continent's history from an African
perspective".
"Blood
Psalms draws from elements of a multitude of African mythologies
and looks at various different tribes in season 1 - the Akachi, the Uchawi, the
Ku’ua, the Chini, and Great Nziwemabwe - as they migrated south from Kemet,
which is now Egypt, and formed their cultures".
