Producers Johannes von Gena and Hans-Christian Mahnke obtained the rights for The Scattering, Lauri Kubuitsile’s award-winning novel on the Herero genocide. The development of the film is currently at its early stages and is envisaged as a European/southern African co-production.
In an agreement negotiated by Aoife Lennon-Ritchie at The Lennon-Ritchie Agency, Penguin Random House South Africa sold the rights to Mycroft Berlin GMBH.
The Scattering is set against the backdrop of southern Africa’s colonial wars at the dawn of the twentieth century and traces the fates of two remarkable young women–a Herero and an Afrikaner–whose paths cross after each has suffered the devastation and dislocation of war. This moving and intimate novel provides a fascinating glimpse into the indomitability of the human spirit.
Co-Producer Mahnke who is the co-creator of ‘Namibia Movie Collection’ and film distributor, says now that they have obtained the film rights, they are currently looking for funding and hope to work with people in Namibia, South Africa, Botswana and Germany.
“But the partners we will work with, might also come from elsewhere, whichever will help create the product,” he says.
Mahnke says when he first read The Scattering, the intriguing storyline was so well told that it played out as a movie in his inner eye.
“Given the colonial amnesia by most of the German society, I immediately felt that the story told in The Scattering must be shared with wider German and global audiences as a film,” Mahnke adds.
As of this date, no cast or crew are attached to the planned film adaptation.
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