‘Rafiki” writer-director, Kenyan filmmaker Wanuri Kahiu has been chosen to direct Gotham Group’s, a Hollywood-based management and production firm, film called Black Kids.
She will bring to life Christina Hammonds Reed’s Black Kids upcoming debut young adult novel.
The Black Kids” is set in Los Angeles in the days following the brutal, televised 1992 beating of Rodney King by police officers. Instead of feeling anger about the incident, Black high school senior Ashley Bennett, who comes from a well-to-do family, is unconcerned.
That changes when the police are acquitted of criminal charges stemming from the violence and riots break out close to Ashley’s home.
Wanuri took to her Twitter page to share the new, “New project alert. Excited to be working with Gotham on this movie,” she wrote.
New project alert:
Excited to be working with Gotham on this. https://t.co/bdOCd3HYtf
— Wanuri (@wanuri) January 28, 2020
According to a report by the Deadline, The Black Kids will be directed by Wanuri and will be adapted by Allison Davis.
Christina Hammonds Reed will publish the novel “The Black Kids” September 1 with Simon & Schuster. It is her debut.
Wanuri is also set to direct Millie Bob Brown in The King About Jellyfish for made-up stories and will be adapting Octavia Butler’s Wild Seed for Juvee Productions and Amazon.
In 2019, Kahiu was named one of TIME’s “100 Next”, the magazine’s inaugural list putting a spotlight on rising stars shaping the future.
