Tioleja Films adapts Souleyka novels

New York-based Tioleja Films, founded in 2023 by entrepreneur Yasmina F Edwards (Bigger Than Africa) and author and screenwriter Gabriel Souleyka, is to adapt four of Souleyka’s novels for the big screen.

The books are Solitude (2023), Akoni: Yoruba (2023), My Soul is a Witness (2024) and the upcoming Toya (2024).

Solitude follows a girl with a rebellious, determined spirit growing up in colonial Guadeloupe, the daughter of a slave woman who was raped by a sailor.

My Soul is a Witness is set in 1939 Dakar, following a young couple whose happiness is shattered when the Second World War breaks out and they get caught up in the French Resistance and eventually the Final Solution. Ten Ten Global Media is attached to coproduce.

Akoni: Yoruba tells the story of a 12-year-old who is captured by slavers in Dahomey in 1770. After a cruel ordeal in Saint-Domingue, he fights for his freedom to be reunited with his family.

Toya, lastly, follows a formidable Mino warrior from Dahomey who is sold into slavery in Saint-Domingue. She raises a son, who becomes the first emperor of Haiti and takes an active part in the fight for Haitian independence.

Edwards said: “Tioleja Media just marked its first anniversary. We have six epic historical novels under our publishing division, with four being adapted to screen.

“Our focus will be fiction and non-fiction work that showcase diverse African narratives spanning thousands of years. Telling inspiring stories that elevate everyday heroes to their rightful places in history remains one of our core missions.”

Tioleja aims to develop content that promotes Africa, African-American life and culture and Afro-descendants while highlighting universal humanism.