The list includes Riz Ahmed’s protagonist, ‘Exit West’, a YA series centered on a native girl and a feature film about mountaineer Tenzing Norgay.
Higher Ground Productions by Barack and Michelle Obama unveiled a new series of projects on Netflix, with themes ranging from one of the first men to reach the summit of Mt. Everest for a YA thriller centered on a Native American girl.
The company also formally announced that it is developing West exit, a film starring Riz Ahmed and based on the acclaimed novel by Mohsin Hamid. News of the film, directed by Yann Demange (White Boy Rick), broke for the first time in March 2020.
“We created Higher Ground to tell great stories. This group of projects is based on that goal and on the incredible path traced by films like Crip Camp, Becoming, and the Oscar winner American Factory“, said the Obamas in a statement. From science fiction to the beauty of our natural world and the relationships that define us, Higher Ground continues to strive for new perspectives, attractive characters and a good dose of inspiration. We couldn’t be more proud of working with the brilliant artists behind each of these stories. Each of them has something important to say. “
The recently announced painting joins a children’s entertainment program Ada Twist, Scientist from executive producer Chris Nee and docuseries The G word with Adam Conover, loosely based on the book by Michael Lewis The Fifth Risk.
“It was exciting to watch President Barack Obama, Michelle Obama and the Higher Ground team dive into the original programming and produce incredible stories,” said Netflix co-CEO and content director Ted Sarandos. “American Factory, Crip Camp and Becoming they captivated audiences around the world, and their new list highlights the variety and depth of programming on the horizon, as well as new and exciting storytellers. “
The projects below are in various stages of development and will be launched in the coming years. Along with Exit West, they are:
– Firefighter’s Daughter, a YA series based on Angeline Boulley’s upcoming debut novel. It centers on an 18-year-old native girl who reluctantly disguises herself in a police investigation at her Ojibwe reserve. Mickey Fisher (Mars from National Geographic, Reverie from NBC) will act as a showrunner and co-write with Wenonah Wilms, who, like Boulley, is from the Ojibwe tribe. Fisher and Wilms are executive producers.
– Great National Parks, a series of natural history highlighting some of the most impressive national parks and wilderness spaces in the world. Higher Ground is producing with Wild Space Productions and Blue Planet II veteran James Honeyborne.
– Satellite, a science fiction feature of Rian Johnson and Ram Bergman’s T Street. Ola Shokunbi is writing, and Kiri Hart and Stephen Feder will produce for T Street.
– Tenzing, a resource based on the life of Tenzing Norgay, who together with Sir Edmund Hillary was the first man to reach the summit of Mt. Everest. Documentary filmmaker Jennifer Peedom (Sherpa), who spent years on Everest, will make her debut in the direction of long narratives. Luke Davies (Lion, Hulu’s Catch-22) wrote the script, which is based on the book Tenzing: hero of Everest by Ed Douglas.
– The young wife, by screenwriter and director Tayarisha Poe (Selah and the Spades), follows Celestina, 29, on her first wedding day – or not exactly a wedding, but a party where she feels out of sync.