The 2022 International Emmy Awards nominees have been announced and M-Net’s “Reyka” is in the running for Best Drama and Best Performance by an Actress for Kim Engelbrecht.
The thriller series, which is also known as “The Cane Field Killings” in some countries, was created and written by Rohan Dickson.
In early September, it won four of the eight nominations it received at Saftas 2022: Best Actress in a TV Drama (Kim Engelbrecht), Best Achievement in Scriptwriting – TV Drama (Dickson), Best Achievement in Directing – TV Drama (Catharine Cooke, Zwelesizwe Ntuli) and Best Achievement in Cinematography – TV Drama (Tom Marais).
“Reyka” oscillates between past and present with Reyka Gama, an investigative and criminal profiler, looking into a series of brutal murders in KwaZulu-Natal.
Her judgement becomes clouded when a traumatic childhood experience comes back to haunt her. Her childhood kidnapper Angus Speelman (played by Scottish actor Iain Glen) is set to be released from prison.
Reyka was kidnapped while accompanying her photographer mother on a work assignment during a pivotal historic moment in South Africa.
She was kept for four years until she managed to escape.
The series introduced newcomer Gabrielle de Gama as Young Reyka.
Executive producer Harriet Gavshon posted the good news on Facebook on Thursday.
She wrote: “So this happened today! We’re in formidable company but ‘Reyka’ has just been nominated for an international Emmy for best drama series and Kim Engelbrecht for best actress. If you haven’t caught it yet, it’s on Showmax. Well done to a brilliant team!”
Theatre doyen Janice Honeyman commented: “Wow! That’s sooo good! Well done to everybody! The hard work pays off, huh? Yaaaay!👍😃💖 Jan.”
Actress Grethe Fox wrote: “Huge congratulations to all of you.”
The only other series from Africa to bag a nod is the children’s show, “My Better World”.
“Reyka” will be going up against “Narcos: Mexico”, “Lupin” and “Vigil” in the Best Drama category.
The 50th International Emmy Awards Gala will be held in New York City, on Monday, November 21.