KAP Academy graduates first-ever set of film trainees

Following a ten-week intensive training on post-production techniques, 10 students have emerged as graduates from the Kunle Afolayan Production (KAP) Film and Television Academy.

The diploma course is a partnership programme with the University of Southern California's (USC) School of Cinematic Arts (SCA) and the global streaming platform Netflix to impart knowledge to improve the skill of young filmmakers, and by extension, improve the overall production quality of films from the local film industry.

Toye Peter, Ifeanyi Passion, Todumu Adegoke, Adesuwa Omon, Ugbede Peter, Oyinbra Fegha, Emeka Egbueui, Unyime Patrick, Temitope Folarin and Candace John-Jumbo were awarded a diploma in post-production editing (Picture Cropping, Editing and Sound Design).

A cross section of the participants at the maiden edition of the KAP Academy Pulse Nigeria

Tuition-free, the entire course module was estimated to be in the margin of N500,000.

Being one of two training programmes planned for rollout this year by KAP, The KAP-USC programme, which focuses on post-production, is the brainchild of widely celebrated filmmaker Kunle Afolayan.

He elaborated that the scheme was an owed responsibility to the next generation of filmmakers; he is passing the torch to them to replicate greatness in filmmaking than what has been achieved so far.

The programme is the successor to his earlier venture to educate filmmakers leveraging the internet: Film Masterclass with Kunle Afolayan, a web series masterclass he conceived three years ago.

A cross section of the participants at the maiden edition of the KAP Academy Pulse Nigeria

"I hate to say that there was no structure; there was a structure. But you cannot compare it to structures in other places around the world," Afolayan said as he recalled enrolling in one of Tunde Kelani's film classes years back in Abeokuta.

"Despite not having those structures from other places, we are still able to do stuff. Our films are now going international. One of the reasons why I thought it was necessary to start a training programme was so that we can impact and build a new generation of filmmakers in our little way.

"A lot of people can't afford these courses, but thank God for technology, it is changing how things are done," he concluded.

The ceremony's keynote delivered by award-winning writer and producer Femi Odugbemi highlighted the importance of institutional training for the sustainability of the film industry.

"Just a decade ago, there were less than 10 training programmes available in the country, today, there are dozens," Odugbemi noted.

A cross section of the participants at the maiden edition of the KAP Academy Pulse Nigeria

"So there is general agreement that the quality of the product needs to improve and that the opportunities of international exposure and distribution will come only with a certain commitment to global best practices and technical quality and artistic exploration."

Despite these developments, he, however, noted that for such programmes to bear more fruits, film professionals must be willing to "esteem the learning experience as critical, not just in the economic world, but to their personal growth as artists and as storytellers."

The convocation ceremony which took place at the KAP Hub in Ikeja, Lagos played host to several Nollywood filmmakers and creatives.

Some of the notable personalities include veteran filmmaker Tunde Kelani; filmmaker Mr Mahmood Ali-Balogun; actress Joke Silva; Professor Duro Oni; Executive Director, Urban Vision Limited, Tola Odunsi; and comedian Babatunde Adewale, etc.

The first edition of the KAP-USC programme was facilitated by Dough Blush, Stephen Flick and Richard Burton.