Graduation Ceremony for MTF’s 1st Batch of Academy Students!

Along with Certificates of Completion, various students rewarded with exciting opportunities including placements & internships with the New York Film Academy College of Visual & Performing Arts (NYFA) in New York; an Indian Film Industry ‘Bollywood’ production internship with Nihilent Limited in India, a ‘Nollywood’ production scriptwriting internship on an Africa Magic Series in Lagos, an infinite AVID media composer license and AVID Pro Tools license by Jasco Broadcast Solutions!

29 August: MultiChoice Africa is proud to announce the Class of 2018 have graduated! After a gruelling 12-months of honing and sharpening their various skills within film and TV, MultiChoice Talent Factory (MTF) celebrated the Academy students of the East Africa hub at its first graduation ceremony held at the Nairobi Film Centre where students received their certificates from the Kenyatta University accredited training programme.

This particular graduation is a landmark moment for MultiChoice Africa’s shared-value initiative, MTF, as its inaugural year proved to be a success with the 20 students accepting their MTF certificates of completion in front of their family, friends and creative industry peers. Some of the guests included Hon. Joe Mucheru, EGH Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of Information & Communications who was our chief guest, Dr Ezekiel Mutua, MBS CEO, Kenya Film Classification Board and other dignitaries from across the East Africa Region.

“We’ve encountered some challenges as we travelled our way along this journey, but with the remarkable support of our stakeholders starting with the Cabinet Secretary Joe Mucheru who personally officiated the opening of the inaugural academy last year, our partners and supporters, we soldiered on and have emerged stronger for the creative industry as a whole,” said Maharage Chande, Northern Regional Director: MultiChoice Africa.

Launched in May 2018 to ignite Africa’s creative film and TV industries through training and skills development, the MTF Academy is a 12-month fully funded training programme aimed at upskilling the next generation of passionate young film creatives. As the first touchpoint of the shared-value initiative, the MTF Academy’s curriculum is expertly executed under the guidance of regional Academy Directors Njoki Muhoho (East Africa hub), Berry Lwando (Southern Africa hub) and Femi Odugbemi (West Africa hub).

The 4-week student selection process was tough, with the Academy Directors having to sit on interview panels in the 13 countries to choose 60 students (20 for each hub) from a pool of over 3,000 applicants. Those that made the cut have certainly proved their potential, and all the graduates’ hard work during the programme has led to this moment, said the East Africa hub’s MTF Academy Director, Njoki Muhoho. “Our first MTF graduation ceremony was a momentous occasion. It is the culmination of all the students’ teachings, and to celebrate the fruits of months of work. It was truly a privilege to witness as the students worked diligently and demonstrated exactly how important a programme such as the MTF Academy is for the preservation of Africa’s creative film and TV industry. I couldn’t have been prouder of the students for the work they have so far put in, and for what lies ahead of them,” said Muhoho.

Throughout the year, MultiChoice Talent Factory has partnered with various institutions and organisations to ensure the success of the initiative. The partners have delivered expertise in various aspects of the film and television and participated in various touchpoints of the initiatives from training at the Academy to upskilling industry professionals through MTF Masterclasses and the MTF portal – www.multichoicetalentfactory.com. Furthermore, the partners have also contributed to the initiative by offering exciting rewards for various graduates of the MTF as part of igniting Africa’s creative industries.

In April 2018, the MTF initiative partnered with the world-renowned New York Film Academy College of Visual & Performing Arts (NYFA). Every year, starting with this first cohort, this leading-edge partnership will select one high-performing graduate from each of the three hubs and give them an opportunity to enhance their skills through a scholarship. The East Africa Class of 2018’s recipient is 26-year-old Kenyan Hillary Lanogwa, who alongside being multi-skilled, also displayed a great sense of leadership and team work during the programme.

In addition to the NYFA partnership, the MTF also partnered with global consulting and solutions integration company Nihilent Limited to provide a 2-week Bollywood production internship for one student from each hub upon graduation. The East Africa Class of 2018’s recipient is 26-year-old Jane Moshi from Tanzania.

The Africa Magic channels are a platform for compelling stories that speak to the African heart and the 3-4-week scriptwriting internship on an Africa Magic Series will equip 24-year-old Cissy Nalumansi from Uganda with the necessary skills to tell authentic African stories.

In addition to these scholarships, continued support from the Henley Business School and Dolby are just a few of the many benefits that the Class of 2019 will also gain from when they begin their programme in October this year.

Jasco Broadcast Solutions is also on board the MTF Academy journey. As part of their partnership with the shared-value initiative, Jasco will provide one AVID media composer licence (in perpetuity) for the most-promising film video editor per region and the software license went to 22-year-old Kenyan Hilary Sibuni Sitati. The AVID Pro Tools license (in perpetuity) and dongle for the most-promising sound engineer per region was awarded to 24-year-old Anthony Njoroge from Kenya. “From the onset, we as MultiChoice believed that working in partnership with creative organisations across the continent and beyond will contribute towards making this initiative a success for the students and broader creative industry,” says MultiChoice MTF Director, Cheryl Uys-Allie. “We truly thank the partners who have come on board to contribute towards equipping our emerging creatives with the technical skills they need to expertly navigate our industry. As the old African proverb says, ‘If you want to run fast, go alone. If you want to run far, go together. It’s our hope that we will see more partners joining us to ignite Africa’s creative industry further.”

Congratulations Class of 2018 who are now alumni of the exceptional MTF Academy programme. We couldn’t have been any prouder!

Notes to the Editor: Special thanks to all our MTF Partners who include:

ABOUT DOLBY INSTITUTE: Launched at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, the Dolby Institute has the mission to educate and inspire emerging filmmakers and content creators to think creatively about sound and image to enhance their stories. Since its inception, the Institute has brought together emerging artists and award-winning veterans and masters of the craft to offer concrete tools and advice on ways to make stories more vibrant with sound and images. Dolby Institute Director Glenn Kiser, the former head of Skywalker Sound, has been working at film festivals, universities, and film schools – wherever filmmakers gather.

For more information visit www.dolby.com

ABOUT NYFA The New York Film Academy College of Visual & Performing (NYFA) teaches students the art of filmmaking and related visual and performing arts through blending traditional school instruction with practical, hands-on experience. NYFA is the largest independent international film and acting school in the world. Since 1992, NYFA has been offering innovative curricula, award-winning instructors, and the highest quality professional equipment, classrooms, and studios. NYFA works to further a global understanding of—and appreciation for—the art and craft of visual storytelling through the education and training of interested and qualified individuals, and to hone the skills of future professionals so that they may one day serve the visual storytelling arts as industry leaders. NYFA has campuses and permanent education sites in New York City, Los Angeles, Miami (South Beach), Gold Coast (Australia), Paris, and Florence. NYFA has established educational partnerships with colleges and universities around the world and have run workshops in more than 40 countries including Brazil, China, England, Italy, Korea, Mexico, Turkey, Russia, South Africa, and Spain.

For more information visit www.nyfa.edu

ABOUT JASCO BROADCAST SOLUTIONS: Jasco Broadcast Solutions designs, builds, installs, integrates and maintains end-to-end video and audio solutions for broadcasters as well as production and post-production houses. We offer technology and services to take you from image capture through to transmission and beyond. Our full-service offering utilises leading brands to deliver bespoke solutions that rival those of the best broadcasters, production and post-production houses across the world. Our decades of experience and longstanding strategic alliances with the best global brands have enabled us to gain unrivalled depth of technical knowledge and experience in the industry.

For more information visit www.jasco.co.za

  ABOUT NIHILENT Limited: Nihilent is a global consulting and services company using design thinking approach to problem-solving and integrated change management. Our comprehensive range of expertise in process and technology enables customers to achieve new heights of business performance. Nihilent has a significant presence in India, USA, UK, Australia, and South Africa. We are a CMMI® Level 5 appraised and ISO 9001: 2015 certified company. Nihilent provides a comprehensive range of process and technology-led transformation services to Media and Entertainment, Banking, Financial Services, Insurance, Retail, Supply Chain & Manufacturing, and Healthcare organizations. Customer centricity is a mission at Nihilent, pursuing we have developed and been awarded a patent for Change Management based on our MC3® framework for Performance Management and Strategy Execution. We also have a patent for our predictive ‘Customer Loyalty Evaluation’ (CLE) model – 14 Signals® – which enables businesses to identify the loyalty drivers and build enduring customer loyalty successfully.

For more information, contact [email protected] or visit www.nihilent.com

ABOUT HENLEY BUSINESS SCHOOL: Henley Business School is a triple-accredited business school and part of the University of Reading. With campuses, offices and partnerships around the world, over 7,000 students from more than 100 countries and over 80,000 alumni from 150 countries, we are a truly international institution. Our courses are enriched by up to date knowledge, research and commercial experience, and aimed at students and professionals at every stage of their career – from undergraduate through to postgraduate, PhD, MBA, DBA and executive education. Henley Business School was ranked the number 1 business school in the world with the potential to network (The Economist 2017); and, the number 1 business school in Africa for executive education (FT 2018), as well as the number 1 MBA business school in South Africa as rated by corporate SA (PMR 2018, 2019). Henley Africa accounts for 60% on Henley's global MBA intake, including the UK and Europe. Our mission is "We build the people who build the businesses that build Africa". We are driven by this mission, not financial targets, although of course we teach and practice commercial acumen to a high level. For more information visit www.henleysa.ac.za

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About the MultiChoice Talent Factory: The African continent is steeped in a rich and diverse history of living passionately through language, art, music, and colourful storytelling. As the continent continues to change rapidly, the entertainment industry has become ever more relevant. MultiChoice Africa has identified an opportunity in this fast-changing environment—one that will have a lasting impact on the industry as a whole. The MultiChoice Talent Factory (MTF) is a multi-tiered training programme (Academies, Masterclasses & Portal) designed by MultiChoice Africa to focus on positively impacting the technical and professional value chain in the film and television industry across the continent. As a business born and bred in Africa, we have a long-term commitment to making a socioeconomic difference in the countries in which we operate. As such, this initiative helps to play a positive role in growing Africa’s creative industries. MTF is a shared-value initiative that provides a platform for the creative industries to develop their talent and engage with one another through their shared passions. Through the MTF Academies (every year, the academies select 60 talented individuals from across 13 countries to participate in a 12-month academic and practical immersion programme including both theory and hands-on experience in cinematography, editing, audio production and storytelling) we are building a pipeline of good local content for our channels whilst the Masterclasses focus on developing technical skills of established creatives in cinematography, audio and storytelling to improve the quality of local productions and are conducted by leading African and international industry experts. The MTF Portal is the golden thread that brings talent and opportunities together on one platform. It is a Pan-African, film and television digital marketplace that offers open, cost-free access to film creatives across the continent to showcase their talent, access opportunities, stay up to date with industry news and expand their industry network. Through this initiative, MultiChoice Africa’s demonstrates its commitment to enriching lives by developing the art of inspired local storytelling and story making, while simultaneously growing a legacy of local content on our DStv, GOtv and Showmax platforms and ultimately continue showcasing Africa’s rich cultural heritage and diversity. More information available on www.multichoicetalentfactory.com