Fela Kuti movie canned after backers pull out, leaving producers out of pocket

French production house, director demand millions

- By Ngwako Malatji

The production of a film about internationally acclaimed music icon Fela Kuti has gone up in smoke after two multinationals, which signed an agreement to finance it pulled a fast one on the producers.

Universal Music South Africa (Umsa) and Universal Music Group (UMG) in the Netherlands bailed out on financing the flick, which was supposed to be produced by French entity, Productions Faire Bleu (LPFB), and its boss Jaques Sarasin.

This became known after LPFB and Sarasin dragged Umsa and UMG to the Johannesburg High Court, where they are demanding hundreds of thousands of euros for breach of contract, damages and loss of income.

In the court papers, which we have seen, Sarasin said in May 2020 LPFB entered into an agreement called the 2020 Film Rights Agreement with Kuti’s children in their capacity as the administrators of the singer's estate to produce the film, which is based on his life.

On March 25, 2021, in Johannesburg and Paris, LPFB entered into a memorandum of understanding for Umsa to finance and produce the film in exchange for acquiring the rights to exploit it. LPFB and Umsa reached an agreement to pay the former €112600 as reimbursement for the costs it incurred in developing the script for the film.