Mo Abudu, the CEO of EbonyLife Media, has signed a movie development deal with BBC Studios.
According to Deadline, the deal will see the movie executive develop a six-part heist thriller titled ‘Reclaim’.
‘Reclaim’ is a series written by Rowan Athale based on an original idea by Abudu, Heidi Uys, and Bode Asiyanbi.
Speaking of the project, EbonyLife, Abudu’s entertainment firm, described the series as its “first big-budget, global series”.
‘Reclaim’ follows a team of art thieves looking to return artworks stolen by the British 125 years ago from Nigeria.
Chief Inneh, the dying billionaire art collector passes on his life’s mission to his daughter Idia Nicole Inneh who must reclaim four looted ivory masks depicting Queen Idia, the first queen mother of the 16th century Benin Empire.
The masks displayed in Britain, Germany, and the US museums have to be reclaimed to restore national pride.
Idia assembles a team of talented but morally dubious individuals from around the globe including world-class art thief Matthew Jones, art expert Xena Kanene, yahoo-boy Hector Mawusi, and logistics genius Lindiwe Radebe.
It is understood that the heist thriller series will combine themes of colonialism, race, and cultural ownership.
Artefacts looted from Nigeria during the epoch of western colonialism have been a topical conversation in recent years, with state forces pushing for their retrieval and prominent figures campaigning to facilitate the movement.
Monica Grutters, German minister of state for culture, had recently vowed that the country would return 1,130 Benin bronzes that were looted from Nigeria in the 19th century and domiciled in German museums.
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