Organisation sends 15 undergrads for film school scholarship

fuad lawal

June 26, 2015 6:49 AM

With the support of the Ford Foundation, the Africa International Film Festival has sent 15 undergraduates to training at the Film School at the Mountain State University in the US.

The 15 undergraduates, comprising 12 Nigerians, two Kenyans and an Ethiopian, are recipients of AFRIFF’s scholarships, which they won by excelling in the competition segment of the AFRIFF’s Talent Development Workshops organised last year.

During the send-off programme for the scholars in Lagos on Saturday, officials of Ford Foundation and those of AFRIFF restated their commitment to the development of talents on the continent.

Ford Foundation Programme Officer, Prof. Paul Nwulu, said at the event:

“This scholarship scheme is a one-month intensive hands-on training camp on various aspects of film making with an emphasis on documentary film production. There will be six days each week of classes which will include an intensive field work and hands-on training.

A trip to Hollywood in Los Angeles will crown this trip with interactions billed to happen with American film makers and a tour of certain film studios slated to take place as well.”

Also, founder/CEO of AFRIFF, Ms. Chioma Ude, said the skill acquisition and youth development initiative was designed to use film making as an authentic vehicle for youth empowerment.

“We believe we can use this model for a social revolution that will change the economic horizon of the African film industry, by providing technical knowledge for the abundant talents in our film community,” she said.

She recalled that AFRIFF had provided free training in various aspects of film making. It had, for instance, worked with Sound and Motion Technical College and City Varsity, Cape Town, South Africa; the National Film Institute, Jos; PEFTI Film Institute, Lagos; the Creative Arts Department at The University of Port Harcourt.

fuad lawal