T he United States Embassy in Nigeria has partnered with Kunle Afolayan Productions (KAP) Film & Television Academy to train aspiring filmmakers. The partnerships was announced at a media briefing during the week at the KAP Village in Ikeja, Lagos. The event marked the beginning of the collaboration and also flagged off the third edition of the academy’s Reel Circle, an initiative for film enthusiasts to learn from industry experts.
The initiative aims to empower young Nigerian filmmakers through a four-day workshop focused on movie directing and cinematography. At the ceremony, Afolayan said the partnership was initiated during his recent visit to the United States. The 50-year-old award-winning producer says the training aims to nurture the next generation of Nigerian filmmakers by providing hands-on experience to top US industry professionals.
He also highlighted the academy’s other partnerships, including ones with the French embassy and a German company, which have enabled training for 10,000 youths. “When the opportunity to partner with this US Embassy came, we felt we could merge the capacity building training. Because our focus is the young people.
But Reel Circle is for everybody,” he said: “It is like raising a child. Some of them are this genu – inely while some of them think it is a place where they could make a quick name. I think the onus rests on us to pass the information, and knowledge as much as we can regardless of whether they listen or not.
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