Spinners wins big in Shanghai

The producers of South African drama Spinners are celebrating after the Showmax original drama debuted in France and won Best Foreign TV Series at the 29th Shanghai TV Festival’s Magnolia Awards, one of the biggest accolades in Asia.

The eight-part series was released on Showmax’s coproduction partner Canal+ in France last week, with two episodes debuting every Monday. This follows a Canal+ release in French-speaking Africa in November last year.

In Shanghai, meanwhile, the Showmax series held off strong competition from award-winning US drama Succession, Bafta-nominated All Creatures Great & Small, Italian series La Storia, and Series Mania fave Aspergirl from France.

International sales of Spinners are being handled by StudioCanal.

Spinners follows a 17-year-old driver working for a local gang. Needing to support his younger brother but increasingly disillusioned with gang life, he discovers a possible way out via spinning, an extreme motorsport where he can put his driving skills to better use.

Spinners is co-created by producer Joachim Landau and showrunner Benjamin Hoffman of Empreinte Digitale, with the story developed by and head written by Sean Steinberg and Matthew Jankes. Jaco Bouwer directs, while the English-language/Kaaps series is coproduced by Ramadan Suleman from Natives at Large, Spinners’ local coproduction company.

The cast includes South African Film & Television Award (SAFTA) winners Brendon Daniels and Dann Jaques Mouton, plus Cantona James, Chelsea Thomas, Dillon Windvogel, Elton Landrew, SAFTA nominee David Isaacs and rising star Katlego Lebogang.

“It’s the very first time a South African series makes it to Shanghai and wins it, so we are very proud. I hope personally it is opening a gate for production from South Africa to travel all around the globe and for new audiences to discover the quality and the specificity of South African productions,” said Hoffman.