Hit Afrikaans series “Wyfie” will compete with some of the UK’s biggest soapies at the prestigious Rose D’Or Awards.
Set to be held at King’s Place in London on December 2, the Showmax Original has been nominated in the Best Soap or Telenovela category at the 63rd edition of the international awards festival which honours the best in entertainment broadcasting and programming.
The series is up against the likes of seven-time Bafta winner, “EastEnders”, and eight-time Bafta nominee, “Hollyoaks”.
The rest of the shows that have been nominated in the category are Belgium’s “Dertigers 2”, Brazil's “Rebirth” and the Turkish show, “Yabani.”
According to a statement, this year’s awards received more than 700 entries from more than 30 countries. The finalists will be chosen by a jury of over 100 broadcast executives, distributors and producers from across the international television industry.
They include Jean Philip De Tender, Director of Media and Deputy Director General at the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).
He said on the Rose D’Or Awards’s website: “It’s always such a joy for the judges to see so much creativity in the international television industry, which makes it even tougher to narrow down hundreds of entries to just a handful of finalists in each category.”
Meanwhile, Mark Rowland, Chair of the Rose d’Or Awards, added: “ With the competition hotter than ever, the judges have had an incredibly strong selection of shows to choose from.”
“Wyfie” is produced by Homebrew Films and is directed by Saftas and Silwerskerm winner, Johan Cronje. Season two is currently streaming.
It follows the lives of four mismatched first-year room-mates at the fictional university, Pantera res.
The series stars Beata Bena Green as Shay, who also serves as the show’s narrator, as well as Celeste Loots as Amanda, Kristen Raath as Kyla and Mienke Ehlers as Mia.
The supporting cast includes Adrian Steyn, Marguerite van Eeden, Elzet Nel and Chelsea Thomas.
Meanwhile, commissioning editor Lizette Khan has dedicated the Rose d’Or nomination to showrunner Burgert Müller, who died in August.
This is the third international accolade for “Wyfie”.
During the 2024 Cannes Film Festival in May, it was nominated for Outstanding Use of Locations at the Global Production Awards, presented by Screen International but the series lost to Netflix’s “Troll”.
“Wyfie” was also up for Best International Series at The Seoul International Drama Awards in September 2024, competing against the likes of the renowned Chinese show, “ Blossoms Shanghai”, as well as Turkey’s “Another Love”, which won the Rose d'Or Award for the 'Best Soap/ Telenovela last year.
Locally, Wyfie’s Ehlers won Best Newcomer at the 2024 kykNET Silwerskerm Awards while Van Eeden won the Best Supporting Actor prize at the event.
The show also won the Representation of LGBTQIA+ Award for a Scripted Series at MIP Africa’s Inclusive Lens Awards.