The auteur who has blessed us with stunning visual work for Solange (“Losing You,”) Beyoncé (“Formation”) and Rihanna (“We Found Love”) will direct her first series with Amazon Studios: an adaptation of Marlon James’ novel A Brief History of Seven Killings.
Melina Matsoukas, who is of Jamaican descent, is already the executive producer and director of Issa Rae’s HBO vehicle, Insecure, and she will now helm a series that explores “Jamaican politics, poverty, race, class and the volatile relationship between the U.S. and the Caribbean, and trace[s] the connection between CIA efforts to destabilize a left-wing Jamaican government in the 1970s to the brutal realities of gang wars in the Kingston ghettos and their spread to New York in the 1980s,” according to the Hollywood Reporter.
“A Brief History of Seven Killings is a complex story that needs to be told, about a people whose voices need to be heard,” Matsoukas said in a statement on Monday. “It’s been my dream to bring this story to life on-screen since reading the first line of Marlon’s book. I am deeply honored to be entrusted with this tapestry of stories so entrenched in roots, reggae, race, mysticism and politics, while working alongside Marlon to ensure an authentic portrayal of his words.”
James will also executive-produce and write the script.