The second intake of the MTF recently commenced and according to the director Berry Lwando, there will be slight differences in the curriculum compared to last year.
MultiChoice Africa had announced earlier this year the students for the MultiChoice Talent Factory (MTF) Academy Class of 2019 to 2020, as part of MultiChoice Africa’s ground-breaking corporate shared value initiative. The MTF Academy will be a 12-month long, fully-funded training programme that aims to increase the skills of the next generation of passionate young film creators by providing hands-on experience in the film industry.
60 aspiring filmmakers from around Africa have been accepted into the program, after a two-month selection process, to start their year-long training programme at the MTF Academies in Nairobi, Lusaka and Lagos which is underway since this month. Among the 60 candidates are three of Namibia’s very own Riejhaat Wolhuter, Humbuhumbu ‘Shona’ Ngava and Hilma Sheehama.
The candidates went through an interview and adjudication process by film and television experts as well as regional Academy directors Njoki Muhoho (East Africa), Berry Lwando (Southern Africa) and Femi Odugbemi (West Africa). Unwrap.online had the opportunity to interview the very same Academy directors. Namely the Academy’s Managing Director from Namibia, Roger Gertze and an Academy Director from Zambia Berry Lwando to gain some more insight.
UN:What are your expectations from the 2019 students that recently started in Zambia?
Roger Gertze: We have selected three passionate young creatives and I have no doubt that they will maximize on the opportunity. They had the benefit of meeting their predecessors who already gave them tips of how to prepare and I am sure that we are going to see great success coming from the 2019-2020 intake. Here’s to igniting the creative industry in Namibia through the MultiChoice Talent Factory project.
UN: Will there be any changes in the course compared to last year?
Berry Lwando: In general terms our offering this year will roughly mirror what our offer was for the first year. However, we have incorporated all the learnings we achieved in the last year in order to make this years’ learning experience even better. Now that we know what works well, we have infused this into the planning of the delivery of what the Academy will offer. There should be an expectation of a great delivery of the course at the Academy, more Masterclasses in all the countries in the region and more activity on the MTFPortal.
UN: What are your expectations from the 2019 students based on the classes they will attend?
BL:The expectation on Cohort 2 is very high. They have to surpass the bar that was raised very high by Cohort 1. Also, in terms of their final productions much is expected from this new Cohort especially that the two productions from Cohort 1 were very well received. Ultimately, it is what the students take out of the training they receive because how they apply this into their future working lives is what this is all about. Igniting the creative industry.
