Malala Yousafzai is an activist, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, and a self-proclaimed “Stranger Things” fan. According to “Variety,” she is working on her first project for Apple.
Her production company, Extracurricular, is working with the independent studio A24 on a feature-length documentary about the legendary “haenyeo” society of fisherwomen who live on South Korea’s Jeju Island. The documentary has not yet been given a name.
The Peabody Award nominee Sue Kim (“The Speed Cubers”) is in charge of directing the Apple Original Films title. It is the first project to go into production from Extracurricular’s partnership with Apple TV+, which was signed in March 2021, according to “Variety.”
Malala showed off her first group of film and TV projects for Apple TV+ on Monday. She did this through Extracurricular.
The most important project is a movie version of Elaine Hsieh Chou’s acclaimed book “Disorientation,” which came out this year. “Disorientation” is a sharp and well-known satire about a college student’s revealing paper on a young poet.
The project will be done by Adam McKay’s Hyperobject Industries, which made “Don’t Look Up.” Stephanie Mercado and Todd Schulman will be in charge. There hasn’t been a director chosen yet.
Extracurricular is also making a scripted series based on “Fifty Words for Rain,” a coming-of-age story about a woman seeking acceptance in Japan after World War II. The book was written by Asha Lemmie, who was just starting as a writer and was a New York Times bestseller in her first year.
Extracurricular’s head of production, Erika Kennair, told Variety that new actors would play prominent roles in both projects. “The main character in “50 Words for Rain” is a woman who is half Black and half Japanese. And if Naomi Osaka doesn’t want to start acting, we’ll have to find out who she is, which is very exciting.”
Speaking to ‘Variety,’ Malala said: “I want to bring the voices of women of colour, first-time writers, and Muslim directors and writers to the table. I hope we can see things from many different points of view and challenge some of the stereotypes we have in our societies.”
She also said, “I hope the story is fun and that people fall in love with the characters and have a great time with them.”
