South African production house Totem Zea and Dutch company PRPL are jointly developing "Third Wheel", a psychological thriller pitched as an allegory for post-colonial power dynamics in Africa, at Fantasia's Frontières Co-Production Market in Montreal this week. The project marks a potential feature directing debut for Zoe Ramushu, whose short film "It Takes a Circus" was nominated for a Student Academy Award, and is being positioned as one of the market's buzz titles combining genre entertainment with pointed social commentary.

The story follows Thina, a 26-year-old Black surgeon adopted by the white family her biological mother still works for, whose wedding weekend at the family's Drakensberg estate spirals from celebration into psychological horror. Ramushu has described the film as reflecting South Africa's trend of informal adoption of Black children by white families, framing it as a metaphor for former colonial powers' lingering involvement in newly independent nations. The film, also written by Ramushu and produced with her partner Reabetswe Moeti-Vogt and PRPL's Ellen Havenith, has secured development and production funding from the Thuthuka Co-Development Fund and is slated to shoot in 2027.