Ngoni Dapira

WHILST entries for the second edition of the 2019 MultiChoice Talent Factory (MTF) academies for aspiring film and television professionals from across Africa are still open till June 14, additional features have been added to the MTF portal.

As part of the MTF programme, young filmmakers are provided with training and hands-on experience in the film industry, with a focus on storytelling, production, audio and directing, as well as other key areas. The academies also provide students with an opportunity to learn directly from well-known leading industry experts, work on live sets of local TV productions and create original content that will be aired on various local M-Net channels across the MultiChoice platform.

MultiChoice Zimbabwe publicity and public relations manager Liz Dziva said the new portal now included a real-time messaging component that enables connected members to network widely and to interact directly with each other.

This will be the academy’s second year running since its inception last year. The entry call which started on May 7 will again be searching for 60 wannabe film and television creatives from Africa to be part of the class of 2019.
“The portal was launched in March as a pan-African digital marketplace for the film and television industry. It offers open, free access to film creatives across Africa to showcase their talent, access opportunities, stay up to date with industry news and expand their industry networks. Since launching just a few months ago, the portal has registered more than 15 000 profiles, including a great many Zimbabweans,” said Dziva

The new messaging component of the portal allows anyone with a registered profile to connect with any other creative within the portal’s network in real-time, a natural and essential added-value feature.
“The feature facilitates greater collaboration and knowledge-sharing, which is recognised by MultiChoice Africa, creator of the portal and the whole MultiChoice Talent Factory initiative,” added Dziva.

She said the portal is the third touch-point of the whole shared-value initiative, which was created with the launch of MTF Academies in three regional hubs and will continue will the MTF master classes. “Year two will start in October, once the first-years have graduated, and a call is being made to all aspiring filmmakers to place their names for consideration for places in the academies set up in Lusaka, for Southern Africa, in Nairobi for East Africa, and in Lagos for West Africa. For Zimbabwe, successful applicants will therefore be placed in the Lusaka, where they will follow two current Zimbabwean students on their first year course,” she said.

From the requisite 60 successful applicants, the three academies will each have 20 students. The Lusaka academy is headed by the highly respected Zambian producer Berry Lwando that has over 28 years of experience in the broadcasting and communications industry.

“Anyone who wishes to be considered for the second academy can apply for entry at https://cte.multichoicetalentfactory.com/ but the deadline is June 14. Please join the MTF social media conversation with the hashtag #MultichoiceTalentFactory at Instagram: @multichoicetalentfactory; Twitter: @MCTalentFactory and Facebook: @multichoiceafricatalentfactory. Information can also be obtained from info@multichoicetalentfactory.com,” she said.