The newly established Kunle Afolayan Production (KAP) Film and Television Academy is set to graduate its first set of trainees at its Ikeja, Lagos-based training facility.
By this feat, the first set of graduands will become certified affiliates of the prestigious School of Cinematic Arts (SCA) at the University of Southern California (USC), USA.
Founded by award-winning filmmaker, Kunle Afolayan, the KAP Academy, in partnership with USC and the global content streaming giant, Netflix, have executed the programme in Post-Production – the first in a series of training workshops in Africa.
The graduation ceremony is scheduled for Monday May 23 at the KAP Hub premises in Ikeja, Lagos, where the former Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the University of Lagos and a renowned technical designer cum scholar, Prof. Duro Oni, will Chair the occasion.
In a press statement made available to TCN by the Academy, the occasion’s Keynote Address will be delivered by award-winning Producer/Director and a voting member of the Academy of Motion Pictures (Oscars), Mr. Femi Odugbemi.
Also expected at the event are former D.G of National Theatre, Prof. Ahmed Yerima and Chairman, Audio- Visual Rights Society of Nigeria, Mr. Mahmoud Ali-Balogun among other creative industry stakeholders.
“With the coming event, KAP is optimistic that the Nigerian film industry is about to witness a turn- around with professionals who will take the film industry to higher grounds,” the Academy stated in the release; adding that graduating students are film editors with previous experience “who now have a global professional mindset.”
The course, which ran for 10 weeks, had world-renowned facilitators like Douglas Blush, Stephen Flick and Richard Burtonled from the School of Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California.
The Academy has imparted in the trainees, the required knowledge and skills for the new forms of post-production techniques, including Picture Cropping, Editing and Sound Design.
The statement quoted Afolayan as saying that, “It has been amazing working with the Netflix team to produce dynamic Nigerian films, and it will only get better now that we are partnering with Netflix and USC to train the newest crop of film post-production experts. These editors and sound designers will go on to craft Nigerian stories on a world-class level.”
Speaking on the partnership, Allison Triegaardt, Netflix’s Grow Creative Manager for Africa says, “Africa is a hugely important region for Netflix and as we grow the number of productions is important for African stories to be able to meet the growing demand for quality storytelling. Our Grow Creative partnerships like the one with USC and KAP in Nigeria will help bridge the skills gap, upskill experienced crew and improve diversity head-on. This will also ensure an even stronger diversity of voices, stories, and points of view for our global audience.”
Director of International Programs for the USC School of Cinematic Arts, Rachel Gandin Mark says, “For over 90 years the USC School of Cinematic Arts has trained Hollywood’s top picture and sound editors. Now, thanks to this exciting partnership with Netflix and Kunle Afolayan’s KAP Academy in Lagos, our world-class and award-winning faculty, Douglas Blush, Stephen Flick and Richard Burton will bring their expertise in helping to train the next generation of Nigerian cinematic storytellers.”
The USC School of Cinematic Arts is one of the most prestigious schools in the world for the study of all facets of the cinematic arts. Notable alumni include; Hwang Dong-Hyuk creator of Squid game; Jon Chu director “Crazy, Rich Asians”; Shonda Rhimes, creator and showrunner of “Grey’s Anatomy,”
“Scandal” and “Bridgerton,” Ryan Coogler, director of Black Panther; George Lucas, creator of “Star Wars” and “Indiana Jones” George Lucas,” and Ron Howard, director of “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” Ron Howard.