STRAP IN AND GET SPINNING
Bursting with adrenaline and intrigue, Spinners is set in the world of spinning, a popular form of motorsport.
The eight-part series, on Showmax from 8 November, follows 17-year-old Ethan (CANTONA JAMES), who works for a local gang.
Ethan must support his younger brother, but he becomes increasingly repulsed by gang life and discovers a possible way out by getting involved in spinning, where he can put his skills with the steering wheel to good use. However, with a gang war looming, the question is, can Ethan turn his life around quickly enough?
The series is already raking in awards.
Cantona was awarded best actor at the Dakar Series 2023 in May and the series also won awards for best TV series and best editing at the Pan African TV series production festival. It was also the first African series selected in competition at Canneseries, the international TV series festival held in France. “The success is phenomenal. The response from people has been incredible,” says director Jaco Bouwer.
Cantona and Chelsea Thomas, who plays Amber, the spinner who inspires Ethan, attended Spinners’ premiere in Paris, France, in October, where they received a standing ovation.
“This is my first international work. To stand on that stage after the screening and realise the scope of the work we’ve done was absolutely incredible,” Chelsea says.
Cantona explains that spinning is about creating art with a car. “To do a doughnut or a figure eight with people hanging outside a spinning car or standing on top of a car . . . it’s just exciting,” he says.
Chelsea says spinning was a big part of her childhood, and Cape Flats culture.
“I grew up in Kraaifontein and would go to the pitch every Sunday. That’s where the cars came to spin.” The series was shot on location mostly in Lavender Hill Cape Town, with real spinners and stunt drivers doing the stunts.