How viral dancing videos led to Harry and Meghan Netflix film
Masaka Kids, A Rhythm Within, will be released on Netflix later this year to show how a charity based in a city in central Uganda is helping to provide orphaned children with a community.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex vowed to 'spotlight diverse voices and share uplifting stories' when they founded Archewell Productions and partnered with Netflix.
But since then, their biggest television hits have been a six-part documentary about themselves and a cookery and lifestyle show in which Meghan demonstrates how to make balloon arches and crudité platters.
Their next joint venture, though, could finally tick the right boxes: a documentary short about a group of Ugandan orphans who have become YouTube sensations thanks to their dance skills.
The couple were not involved in the filming of the documentary and is not thought to have been to Uganda.
But, like millions of others, they fell in love with the Masaka Kids during lockdown when the group exploded onto social media with a series of viral videos that cannot fail to raise a smile.
'They would watch the videos regularly with Archie at home,' a spokesman for the couple told The Telegraph. 'So, they were already admirers of the organisation before the film project came to them in 2023.'
The Netflix documentary will tell the story of how an independent filmmaker, David Lopez, got to know the children over several years, revisiting them in Uganda and filming with them as he volunteered.
Mr Lopez partnered with Campfire Studios and Moses Bwayo, a Ugandan filmmaker, to begin shaping the footage into a documentary that eventually found its way to the Sussexes' Archewell Productions.
'When the Duke and Duchess were made aware of the short, they quickly recognised the kids from their viral videos and fell in love with their deeper stories,' their spokesman said.
'Archewell Productions then partnered with seasoned producer Geeta Gandbhir to harness the film's style and tone and ultimately finish the film as you see it today.'
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Masaka Kids, which bears the motto 'Dance, Rise and Shine', was founded in 2013 and raises money to support some of the 2.4 million children orphaned in Uganda as a result of extreme poverty, the HIV/Aids epidemic and years of civil conflict.
It also provides 'safe shelter, food, clothing, education and medical care' to the 35 children aged two and above currently in its care, as well as funding outreach programmes to neighbouring villages.
Suuna Hassan, the founder who spent part of his own life living on the streets, uses music and dance to 'reach out to the world' as well as to 'empower' the children in his care.
'No matter what your background is, you can always enjoy people performing a good dance to a nice foot-tapping number,' he has said. 'It is universal and the best way to send a message. If you look at our videos on social media, you will understand the message we are trying to convey.'
Those videos – often set to well-known songs by the likes of Michael Jackson or Dire Straits – have been seen by millions of people, taking the Masaka Kids on tour to far-flung countries.
Aside from watching the children's dances with his son, now six, Prince Harry is said to have a 'deep and personal' bond to Uganda through his connection to the Henry van Straubenzee Memorial Fund.
Straubenzee, the Duke's childhood best friend, was killed in a car crash near Ludgrove Prep school in Berkshire in December 2002. He had been due to travel to Uganda to volunteer before starting at Newcastle University.
Five years after his death, his family set up the Henry van Straubenzee Memorial Fund to support children in Uganda, initially at the school at which the teenager had been due to teach. Princes William and Harry became joint patrons, both supporting the charity's endeavours until it was wound down at the end of last year.
The Sussexes' spokesman said they got on board with the Masaka Kids film to 'help amplify their stories and help spread their love and joy even further across the globe'.
Mr Hassan is similarly hopeful. He is keen for a larger building that would enable him to take in more orphaned children and recognises the power of the reach such a project could have. 'That is my wish, and I think this could help,' he told the Telegraph.
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