Activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai is working as a producer on a documentary for Apple, Variety has reported. She will produce three film and TV projects for Apple TV+ through her production company, Extracurricular.
Speaking to Variety, Yousafzai said, “What I hope to bring to the table are the voices of women of colour, and debut writers and Muslim directors and writers. I hope we can have a wide range of perspectives and we challenge some of the stereotypes we hold in our societies.”
Extracurricular has partnered with the indie studio A24 for an untitled feature documentary on the legendary haenyeo, a community of fisherwomen from South Korea’s Jeju Island. It will be directed by Peabody Award nominee Sue Kim (The Speed Cubers, 2020) and is the first project to go into production from Extracurricular’s partnership with Apple TV+, which was struck in March 2021.
Also on Extracurricular’s slate is the feature film adaptation of Elaine Hsieh Chou’s acclaimed satirical novel Disorientation, which was published earlier this year and is about a college student’s revealing dissertation on a young poet. The project will be produced by Adam McKay’s Hyperobject Industries (McKay directed Don’t Look Up, 2021) with Stephanie Mercado and Todd Schulman.
Extracurricular is also working on a scripted series based on Asha Lemmie’s coming-of-age novel Fifty Words for Rain, about a woman’s search for acceptance in post-World War II Japan.