The MultiChoice Talent Factory has partnered with SAE Institute, a world leader in creative media education, to offer fully funded online short courses to 300 professional filmmakers.

The filmmakers come from Malawi, Zambia, Angola, Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya and Nigeria. They work at various production houses and free-to-air channels, including public state-owned broadcasters. 

The online short courses have been custom designed by MTF and SAE, after identifying certain skills shortages within the industry.

The five courses created are Script Writing, Production Management, Cinematography, Audio Post-Production and 3D Animation. Each short course will run for five weeks. The courses were designed to address key areas of development that have been identified by content buyers and subject-matter experts in the industry.

SAE, with 47 campuses in 23 countries, has been setting the global benchmark for creative media education since 1976. In South Africa, they proudly offer nationally accredited Bachelor's Degrees and Higher Certificates across 4 disciplines Animation, Audio, Games and Film.

“Following the success and immense impact of the MTF Academy, we’ve received numerous requests from established filmmakers, who are unable to apply for the Academy Graduate Programmes as they only cater for young filmmakers. To ensure we cater to those filmmakers, we wanted to create short courses to further enhance their skill sets and this is our response to those requests. The TV & film industry is constantly evolving and as such we as professionals must continue to diversify and develop our skills,” says MTF Director for Africa, Nwabisa Matyumza.  

The online orientation programme, hosted by South African comedian, Mpho Popps, was attended by the various filmmakers embarking on this exciting learning journey. During the orientation session, the filmmakers were taken through the online learning platform and had the opportunity to meet their course facilitators and fellow filmmakers from across the continent.

“We’re excited to walk this journey with the MultiChoice Talent Factory. Our purpose is to educate, empower and employ and this partnership allows us to expand this purpose into other African countries. These short courses provide much-needed upskilling for many self-taught individuals who have never had the opportunity to study at a university. It goes a long way in bolstering the existing skill and talent on the continent,” says Scott Rogers, Managing Director of Invictus Online at the SAE Institute.