‘Africa Must Tell Its Story Professionally Else Someone One Else Would Do It For Us’ – Filmmaker Femi Odugbemi

Nollywood filmmaker and Academy Director, Multichoice West Africa, Femi Odugbemi has charged young movie practitioners across Africa to take charge of their mode of storytelling, as it is pertinent to tell our unique stories in the most pr0A

This he did at the MultiChoice Talent Factory (MTF) initiative panel session which has been described as an indication of the company’s commitment to growing and developing African creative industries.

 The session was led by a panel which included members of the MultiChoice leadership including Yolisa Phahle, Video Entertainment CEO, MultiChoice General Entertainment; John Ugbe, Managing Director, MultiChoice Nigeria and Nkateko Mabaso, Acting CEO, M-Net SSA.

Speaking at the session, Ugbe said that the MTF was established to ensure better production of African stories, which will not only resonate with Africans but also with audiences around the world because according to him, there is a need to take African content to the rest of the world.

‘We need to tell our stories with high quality production, it is much more than giving back, it is ensuring that generations can re-invent the stories of the generations that came before us and with multichoice talent factory, we are equipping the younger generations to sit down with industry professionals to tell our own stories’ Odugbemi said.

%tories’ Odugbemi said.

He continued ‘African movies have moved from local, dull stories and production to more informed and professionally produced movies, so these youths need to be given the opportunity- The stories being circulated are stories are always about poverty, cholera, Ebola whereas there are exotic

stories of African heroes, kings and queens, as well as discoveries and this, is what the Multichoice Talent Factory wants to do’.

On her part, Cheryl Uys-Allie, Director, MultiChoice Talent Factory, explained that the initiative is about developing the skills of local filmmakers and the growth of the local film industries. She explained that the initiative was launched in May 2018 in Nigeria, Zambia and Kenya, the three countries that will host the MultiChoice Academies. Each academy will provide 20 students with a full-year academic programme in various aspects of filmmaking. The 60 students, who resume in October, were selected from 3,108 applicants from across the continent. Berry Lwando, Academy Director, Southern Africa, explained that the selection was done in conjunction with experts in local film industries

 Other MultiChoice top shots and experts in attendance at the session included Wangi Mba-Uzuokwu, Channel Director, Africa Magic; Njoki Muhoho, Academy Director East Africa and Femi Odugbemi, Academy Director West Africa.

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