EXCLUSIVE: Zero Gravity Management has signed Nigerian filmmaker Editi Effiong, whose debut feature The Black Book last year established itself as Netflix’s most viewed English-language African film.
Debuting at No. 3 on the platform in September 2023, The Black Book made Netflix’s Top 10 in more than 69 countries. The revenge thriller centers on Paul Edima (Richard Mofe-Damijo), a bereaved deacon who takes justice into his own hands when his son is framed for a kidnapping, fighting a corrupt police gang to absolve him. Effiong wrote, directed and produced the film, which was made for $1 million.
A creative entrepreneur with business interests in advertising, technology and film, Effiong in 2018 founded Anakle Films, a company dedicated to telling the next generation of African stories through film, which also saw Netflix snap up its first two theatrical releases, Up North and The Setup. In 2020, the company partnered with the U.S. Mission in Nigeria and U.S. Justice Department to create Fishbone, a film aimed at raising awareness for pharmaceutical drug counterfeiting. Effiong served as director of the short.
Also the founder of one of Nigeria’s biggest digital marketing agencies, Anakle, as well as Anakle Labs, a technology company focused on building solutions for financial services and telecoms industries, Effiong has additionally led digital communications and marketing for organizations including Wikipedia, Globacom, Diageo, Access Bank, Sterling Bank, PZ, Reckitt Benkiser, Oando and British Council.
He’s also been involved in various non-profit endeavors in Nigeria, including the funding of clean water projects, as well as building and funding computer education labs, which have provided high quality computer education for over 1000 children from low-income families.
