Namibia will this year be represented by Jerome Claasen, Jose Carlos Panduleni Amutenya and Lucia Kim Hamunghete in the MultiChoice Talent Factory (MTF) Class of 2022.
They were chosen after a six-week selection process across 13 African countries, amongst 60 aspiring filmmakers, representing southern Africa, West Africa and East Africa, and will begin their 12-month training programme at the MTF Academy hubs in Nairobi, Lagos and Lusaka in October this year.
The final candidates were selected after a rigorous interviewing and adjudication process by film and television experts, as well as regional Academy directors.
Now in its third year, the MTF has honed the skills of 120 emerging filmmakers in 13 countries across the continent, who are now part of the growing MTF alumni network, taking African stories to the world.
At the onset of the pandemic, MTF looked for ways to ensure its curriculum was still delivered with the expected impact.
“Critical to this was leveraging relationships with our strategic partners when identifying solutions for our students. This led to even greater opportunities, as our last cohort benefited from an intensive three-week New York Film Academy (NYFA) online training course,” said MultiChoice Africa.
Formulated in partnership with NYFA, this course is now part of the MTF curriculum, where the new cohort will learn how to produce micro-documentaries, public service announcements, television commercials and music videos. This type of training broadens their skill set and allows them to be economically active in various sectors – not only the film industry.
The success of any academic programme can be measured by the contribution made by the alumni in the industry. To find out how MTF academies are continuing to ignite Africa’s creative industries, MTF carried out an annual survey and found that of those who participated in the survey from of the inaugural class of 2019, 92% are economically active in the industry.
According to CEO: general entertainment and connected video Yolisa Phahle, this is exactly what the industry needs and why MTF was launched.
“As Africa’s most loved storyteller, our commitment is not only to tell authentic African stories, but to also invest in them. That is why some of our alumni are working on M-Net and Showmax productions,” she noted.
The academy’s curriculum was tailored alongside MultiChoice Africa partner institutions Pan-Atlantic University in Lagos, Kenyatta University in Nairobi, and the University of Zambia in Lusaka, which will respectively confer the course qualification upon completion of the academy programme.
In addition, The Henley Business School offers an orientation intervention to the students at the beginning and end of the 12-month programme as well as workshops on Business for Creatives, focussing on entrepreneurship.
In addition to the academy, MTF also provides resources for industry professionals across Africa.The second pillar, the MTF masterclass initiatives, is aimed at upskilling industry professionals and emerging creatives alike by offering exclusive access to practical, expert-led industry skills workshops across the continent.
Through these masterclasses, MTF has trained over 1 000 creatives since 2019.
The MTF Portal is a third pillar, a pan-African digital marketplace for the over 40 000 creatives who are registered, which provides access to free online masterclasses and profiling opportunities.