Origin: The Story of the Basketball Africa League managed to snag U.S. and Canadian rights acquisition ahead of its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival recently. ESPN acquired exclusive U.S. rights while Bell Media acquired the Canadian rights.
The documentary chronicles the realization of a decades-long vision for elite basketball across Africa and features President Barack Obama, J. Cole, Steph Curry, and Masai Ujiri. Told in four parts, the film documents the creation and launch of the NBA’s first collaboration to operate a team outside North America, a pan-African professional basketball league in partnership with the International Basketball Federation (FIBA).
The film is executive produced, written, and co-directed by Richard Brown (True Detective, Catch-22, Outlaw King) with executive producers including Masai Ujiri, Akin Omotoso, and Fisher Stevens.
