Origin: The Story of the Basketball Africa League secures North American distribution partners ahead of its world premiere at the 50. Toronto International Film Festival, as part of the festival’s Primetime lineup.
ESPN has acquired exclusive U.S. rights, Bell Media the rights in Canada, where the series will be available for streaming on Crave, and TSN.
Origin documents the creation and launch of the NBA's first collaboration to operate a league outside North America, a pan-African professional basketball league in partnership with FIBA featuring 12 top club teams from across Africa's 54 countries competing in a caravan format. The series captures the realization of a vision decades in the making, spearheaded by Amadou Gallo Fall and Masai Ujiri, who transformed their long-held dream of elite African basketball into reality, and goes behind the scenes throughout BAL’s first season as it follows the stories of key players, coaches, and teams as they compete to be the historic first BAL champions.
Executive produced, written and co-directed by Richard Brown (True Detective, Catch-22, Outlaw King), with executive producers including Masai Ujiri, Akin Omotoso (Rise) and Fisher Stevens (Beckham) as well as co-director Tebogo Malope, the documentary series follows the BAL's inaugural season and playoffs while exploring the league's potential to transform both large-scale sporting and socio-economic opportunities across the continent. The series is produced by Fremantle and Passenger. Fremantle are handling global distribution.
The BAL showcases the diversity of Africa, bringing together teams from vastly different nations including Mozambique, Angola, Senegal, Rwanda, Egypt, and Morocco. Origin captures how basketball serves as a unifying force across the continent's rich tapestry of cultures, languages, and traditions, creating connections between communities that span from North Africa's Mediterranean shores to sub-Saharan nations.
The series also examines how the BAL serves as a unique bridge between Africa and North America, creating bidirectional pathways for opportunity. Through the stories of players, coaches, and league architects, Origin reveals how basketball is fostering new connections that benefit both continents.
The series features exclusive interviews and participation with key figures including Barack Obama, Masai Ujiri, Amadou Gallo Fall, Joakim Noah, J. Cole, Dikembe Mutombo, Stephen Curry, Pascal Siakam and Adam Silver.
“The BAL is the culmination of decades of work by the NBA and FIBA to grow basketball in Africa and give aspiring African players a predictable pathway to learn the game and maximize their potential," said Amadou Gallo Fall, President of the Basketball Africa League. "Through these agreements with ESPN and Bell Media, fans across North America will get a behind-the-scenes look at the BAL’s historic inaugural season and the impact that the league is having on lives, communities and economies across the continent."
“As filmmakers, we were granted remarkable access to chronicle not only the inaugural season of The Basketball Africa League itself, but the personal journeys of the competing players and coaches, as well as the visionaries who are building something historic.” said Richard Brown, co-director, writer, and executive producer. “To have ESPN and Bell Media — two of the most respected and far-reaching platforms in North America — bring Origin to audience is truly exciting. Their belief in this series ensures this series will have the visibility and impact we hoped for; these are stories of ambition, competition, resilience and transformation.”
Masai Ujiri, Giants of Africa co-founder, former Toronto Raptors Vice-Chairman and President, series executive producer added: “The story of Origin chronicles basketball’s power to unite, inspire, and transform communities. To see this documentary acquired by ESPN and Bell Media is a powerful affirmation of the incredible work being done by many to support and nurture young and upcoming talent across Africa. We are only at the beginning of telling Africa’s incredible story and its talent being celebrated by the world.”
“With strong connections to well-known basketball figures in Canada and Toronto, we know this documentary will appeal to Crave and TSN audiences who are looking for compelling, engaging, and inspiring content,” said Justin Stockman, Vice President, Content Development and Programming, Bell Media.
