South African filmmakers Sheetal Magan (“Paraya”) and Sean Drummond (“Five Fingers for Marseilles”) are teaming up on what they’ve dubbed an “African noir” series inspired by the incredible true story of an “X-Files”-style occult crime unit born in the dying days of apartheid. The duo is pitching the 8 x 60′ series this week at the Durban FilmMart.

“Acts of Man” is created by Magan, whose short film “Paraya” premiered at Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight, and Drummond, who wrote and produced the genre-bending Western “Five Fingers for Marseilles,” which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival. The duo will act as writers and showrunners and produce through Magan’s Atman Media shingle and Drummond’s Be Phat Motel Film Co.

Casey Walker of Toronto-based Cave Painting Pictures, veteran Canadian producer Todd Brown and Naysun Alae-Carew at Blazing Griffin in the U.K. have all come on board the buzzy show.

“Acts of...