As anyone remember, the diatribe on the Netflix series dedicated to Queen Cleopatra, written by Peres Owino and NneNne Iwuji, produced by Jada Pinkett as part of a project on African Queens, on air since tomorrow, May 10, in four episodes of 45 minutes each, dates back to a few weeks ago.
The reason for the controversy is the colour of the actress Adele James’ skin (black) whereas, according to many scholars, Cleopatra VII was of Macedonian blood. In Italy Alberto Angela also remembered it, in one of his shows.
Well, another TV Cleopatra is going to arrive! The Egyptian documentary channel “al-Wathaeqya”, of the Documentary Production Sector at the United Media Services Company, announced it has begun producing a documentary about the true story of Queen Cleopatra, one that aims to tell a historically accurate depiction of her life.
The documentary channel said in a statement:
“Preparations have begun to produce a documentary about Queen Cleopatra VII, daughter of Ptolemy XII, known as Cleopatra, the last king of the Ptolemaic family, that ruled Egypt in the wake of the death of Alexander the Great.”
“Based on what is always usual in all the work of the Documentary Production Sector and Wathaeqya Channel, there are work sessions currently being held with a number of specialists in history, archaeology, and anthropology. In order to subject research related to the subject of the film and its image to the utmost levels of research and study,” the channel assured.
As for the Netflix documentary series, Egyptian lawyer Mahmoud al-Semary come to file a case with the Public Prosecutor to shut down the Netflix platform in Egypt, following the trailer release of “Queen Cleopatra”. Mahmoud al-Semary has demanded that serious legal action be taken against those responsible for the making of the documentary. He blamed the Netflix management team for its participation in “this crime”, and even demanded a thorough investigation of the process as well as the overall discontinuity of Netflix’s streaming service in Egypt as a consequence.
Sources: Egypt Independent, Netflix