It a time the world is yearning for indigenous content from Africa, MultiChoice Talent Factory (MTF) has become one of the most dutiful platforms to harness and nurture talented storytellers to glory, fame and fortune.
Since the creation of MTF in 2018, there has been a surge in two divides of content creation. The number of young and intending storytellers seeking to gain knowledge and sharpen their innate talent have increased as these creatives have found solace in honing and nurturing their skills at the MTF.
In the same vein, the number of young and talented storytellers, filmmakers and industry practitioners have witnessed a surge with MTF churning out at least 350 practitioners in the three regions namely East Africa, West Africa, and Southern Africa Academies.
And the surge is evident in the increased number of indigenous content created by the MTF alumni in the last three years with a stern focus on telling authentic African stories.
With talented and award-winning facilitators like Femi Odugbemi, Denny. Y. Miller, and Atinuke Ngozi Babatunde, who have displayed their wizardry at content creation and production, creative minded youths keep trooping to hone their skills at MTF while the platform keeps churning out the next generation of African storytellers.
Beyond equipping Africa’s finest content creators, MTF plays the critical role of being a talent pipeline for the African creative industry. “This is a proud moment for everyone involved in ensuring that the students successfully became graduates. The MTF Academy is acknowledged as a great path to a career in the African entertainment industry. It functions as a production line for talent and creativity, producing passionate, motivated young people with the exact set of skills that our sector needs to produce high-quality African content for African audiences.” CEO of West Africa MultiChoice, John Ugbe, said while highlighting MTF’s contribution to the creative industry.
“MTF is a collaborative platform for our sector to develop talent. It is helping to build the future of West Africa’s film and TV industry. We thank our partners, stakeholders and collaborators for coming together to grow local skills in our industry. It is a positive investment in Africa’s future,” Ugbe added.
This year, more graduates finished the 12-month long fully-funded training programme for budding film and TV creatives. A total of 20 creatives, who went into the MTF Academy as budding film and TV creatives graduated after an intense one year of honing their skills in screenwriting, editing, production, directing, the business of filmmaking and gaining hands-on experience through immersions on various TV and film projects.
One of the qualities that stands MTF out from other platforms is the creation of a mini-platform where alumni across the three African regions meet to exchange ideas. As graduates, the Class of 2023 joins the MTF alumni network and will be connected to industry professionals from across the continent through the relaunched MTF Portal. This is aside the quality partnership the academy has with the New York Film Academy of Visual and Performing Arts (NYFA), the Henley Business School and Dolby are among the strategic partners of the MTF Academy.
For this year’s graduating class, the top three graduates received internships in recognition of their exceptional work and achievements. Elvis Damptey from Ghana was awarded a two-week internship at a local film and TV production in South Africa; Abdulazziz Attah from Nigeria was awarded a two-week Bollywood internship with Zee World; and Samuel Ogundeyi from Nigeria was awarded an eight-week scholarship to the New York Film Academy (NYFA).
To give credence to MTF’s commitment to nurturing talent and helping them find their feet, this year’s students produced two short films for Zee World as well as other short films which have been selected into film festivals such as the African International Film Festival (AFRIFF) and the Africa International Human Rights Film Festival (AIHRIFF).
In the same vein, they also produced two feature films as their final projects, and these films will be broadcast on Africa Magic channels on DStv, GOtv and Showmax – a testament to the success.
And the practicality of the programme.
It is evident that the future of Africa’s creative industries looks bright with the existence of the MTF in West Africa, East Africa and Southern Africa. The last eight years has seen the platform empowering creatives and by extension transforming the industry.
MTF has also continued to engage in capacity building outside the academy but with a mission to inculcate the students into the real world of content creation with a knack for indigenous content creation.
