Netflix Announces Start of Production on Futuristic Dystopian Drama “The Kitchen”

(Photo Courtesy of Momodu Mansaray/WireImage/ Olivia Rose/ Albert Sackey)

Academy Award winner Daniel Kaluuya (Judas and The Black Messiah, Get Out) co-writes The Kitchen for Netflix alongside Joe Murtagh (Calm with Horses, Gangs of London) from an idea created by Daniel Kaluuya, Kibwe Tavares and Daniel Emmerson (Calm with Horses).

Daniel Emmerson produces the feature for DMC Film, Kaluuya produces the feature under his 59% Productions banner.

The Kitchen is set in London, 2044, a future where the gap between rich and poor has been stretched to its limits. All forms of social housing have been eradicated and London’s working classes have been forced to live in temporary accommodation on the outskirts of the city, The Kitchen is the first and the largest of its kind, it’s London’s last village harbouring residents that refuse to move on and move out of the place they call home. It’s here we meet Izi, a resident of the kitchen who is desperately trying to find a way out and 12-year-old, Benji, who has lost his mother and is searching for a family. We follow our unlikely pair as they battle to survive in a system that is stacked against them.

The Kitchen is helmed by first-time feature director, Kibwe Tavares. Kibwe’s multi-disciplinary work crosses theatre, shorts and architecture. Kibwe was awarded the Sundance Special Jury Award for his animated short Robots of Brixton and was nominated for the Sundance Short Film Grand Jury Prize for Jonah starring Daniel Kaluuya. He executive produced acclaimed sci-fi drama Noughts & Crosses for the BBC, and led the design and world building through his creative studio, Factory Fifteen.
Actor and musician Kane Robinson takes the lead as Izi following his recurring starring role in the Top Boy series, season 2 of which has just launched on Netflix.

The Kitchen introduces young newcomer Jedaiah Bannerman, playing co-lead Benji alongside Kane Robinson as Izi. Bannerman has been discovered by acclaimed casting director, Aisha Bywaters (The Last Tree, We Are Lady Parts, County Lines). Aisha was selected for Bafta Breakthrough 2021, and will launch a host of young British talent on The Kitchen (to be announced further down the line in supporting roles).

The film was developed with the support of Film4 for whom David Kimbangi and Ollie Madden serve as executive producers.
Theo Barrowclough will serve as a co-producer, while Conor McCaughan and Michael Fassbender will serve as executive producers for DMC Film.

The Kitchen will shoot on location in London and Paris and release globally on Netflix in 2023.

“In 2011, I was in my barbershop and there was a guy boasting about smash and grabs — kids doing million-pound heists in a minute, getting paid £200 to do it. I saw the potential to unlock a unique story door to the inequality, fatherhood, class, joy, resilience, courage, defiance and care of London,” says co-writer/producer Daniel Kaluuya, 59% Productions.

“Now, nearly a decade later, Kibwe Tavares, Daniel Emmerson and I are about to start production, immersing ourselves in a dystopian London that interrogates what ‘care’ means, at home and as a society and the dangers in our future if we stay indifferent to everything around us. I feel blessed and honoured that my first co-writing film credit is with this inspiring group of creatives, and with the support of Film 4 and Netflix. All of us are excited to watch Kibwe’s incredible, cinematic, electric vision come to life, and to create a moment that audiences want to take with them.”

“The Kitchen is very much a love letter to London, the city that has defined my childhood and ultimately my identity. It’s set in an extreme version of our current world; our characters have little choice but to let the city take over them. Through Benji, a 12 year old in need of care, we explore what we as society lose in the ever changing and shifting patterns of life, of our cities. I’m incredibly honoured to be able to explore a father-son relationship in this setting that is as personal as it is universal. This is a film for my father and all the fathers and sons out there, who are working it out. And to all the communities out there that are trying to take care of each other.” Kibwe Tavares, Director.

“I’ve had the pleasure of producing for Kibwe over the years and couldn’t be happier to now be supporting Kibwe’s debut feature as part of the Netflix UK Film slate. The Kitchen is ambitious, timely and will showcase the great vision he has as a filmmaker, bringing the exciting world-building and textured nuances from Daniel Kaluuya’s debut feature script to our screens”. Fiona Lamptey, Director of UK Features, Netflix

DMC Film’s (Slow West, Macbeth, Calm With Horses) upcoming slate includes Hayley Squires’ Gentle In The Bones, Charlotte Regan’s Scrapper and Joe Murtagh’s Dreadful Ned. 59% Productions’ upcoming slate includes Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul. which was acquired by Focus Feature and Monkeypaw out of this year’s Sundance Film Festival and is currently set for a September 2, 2022, release.