Applications open for MultiChoice Talent Factory film academy's 5th year and its class of 2023, once again looking for 60 film students from Southern, West and East Africa.

by Thinus Ferreira

MultiChoice has opened entries for Africa for its annual MultiChoice Talent Factory film academy for the 2023 year with the course that will start in October 2022.

The MultiChoice Talent Factory (MTF) will once again take 60 aspiring film and TV content creators for its Southern Africa, West Africa and East Africa regions for its class of 2023, with applicants who have to be emerging filmmakers with either some industry experience or a relevant post-school qualification.

Interested people can apply at www.MultiChoiceTalentFactory.com before the closing date of 3 June 2022.

For the MultiChoice Talent Factory's 5th year, the academy directors will be Atinuke Babatunde heading up the West Africa hub, Victoria Goro who will be heading up the East Africa hub, and Christopher Puta who will lead the Southern Africa hub.

The MTF film academy's curriculum combines film studies such as directing, sound design and the business of film, with students who get practical experience during their 12 months to work across various M-Net productions filmed across Africa.

"This couldn't be a more exciting opportunity for African film and TV content creators," says Atinuke Babatunde in a MultiChoice press statement.

"There are so many stories on our continent that need to be told and documented with a sense of skill and passion that only a programme such as the MTF Academy can train young people to do. I can't wait to be a part of this journey."

Victoria Goro who has a film production career spanning 31 years, says "As someone passionate about training and knowledge-sharing, there's just nothing that can match the level of expertise and practical experience that the Class of 2023 is set to gain".

"The fact that the MTF programme also results in alumni establishing production companies after graduation thereby thriving in self-employment tells you all you need to know about the success of this programme."

Coming in with 15 years of experience in audio and video production, Southern Africa Academy director Christopher Puta says that the growth of Africa's film and TV industry starts with providing young people with the opportunity to produce quality content.

"By equipping students with what it takes to be world-class film and TV professionals, the MTF Academy programme is effectively raising the next generation of African storytellers and historians."

MultiChoice Talent Factory director Nwabisa Matyumza says "The continued support from stakeholders, partners and students has been overwhelming, and we couldn't be more excited to have reached our fifth year as one of the MultiChoice Group's leading initiatives directly investing in young African filmmakers".

Besides the hands-on training that all students will receive as part of the programme, they will also get enhanced training experience from the Academy partnerships, which include the New York Film Academy (NYFA), the Henley Business School, Dolby and Canon.

With daring, boundary-pushing reality shows, the Moja Love channel on DStv says it's aspiring 'to innovate, to change and challenge the South African TV landscape'.

With daring, boundary-pushing reality shows about topics previous discussed in "hushed tones", the Moja Love channel on MultiChoice's DStv satellite pay-TV service says that it's aspiring "to innovate, to change and challenge the South African TV landscape".

The channel that launched on 14 February 2018, last week held its first-ever Moja Love 2019 Content Showcase, going through its existing content slate and unveiling new upcoming programming, while trotting out its on-air talent and executives on-stage before the media.

"Our mission is to create content that is authentic, the lived experience of our communities. We want our viewers to see themselves in experiences-in-the-real," said Bokani Moyo, Moja Love's head of unscripted content.

"Our production teams are made up of young, and mainly female content-creators who are driven to deliver stories that were previously not spoken about; everything was spoken about in hushed tones and you don't talk about that in public."

"We believe it's important to speak about these social ills. If we don't raise them to the surface, they are passed on from generation to generation. So Moja Love is here to say, 'Let's start anew. Let's confront our issues and deal with them head-on'," said Bokani Moyo.

"This is reflected in the impactful reality shows such as No Excuse Pay Papgeld, Uthando Noxolo and Rea Tsotella."

"As Moja Love we are also very much about celebrating ourselves - our traditions, our cultures, but above all else, celebrating our authentic selves. We have done this with shows such as Traditional Wedding and the very popular Umndeni. We have unearthed new presenter talent and we haven't been afraid to groom young production talent."

"We have invited young, small, black production companies to come with us on this journey and we haven't been disappointed as they come with fresh, different concepts and ideas.

"We really aspire to innovate, to change and challenge the South African TV landscape," said Bokani Moyo. "We ask a lot of these young teams of men and women, who work long hours. But their talent shines through and it's reflected on screen."

"We've now got a weekly reach of 2.7 million viewers, surpassing some of the long-established players, including international TV players."

"We know that we are offering something that our viewers want and we will continue to bring that to them," said Bokani Moyo.

Nwabisa Matyumza, MultiChoice's new head of content for Southern Africa, who also spoke on-stage and addressed the media, gave some background behind the creation of Moja Love and the channel's addition to DStv.

"At MultiChoice we pride ourselves on being Africa's most-loved storyteller. So, when we had the opportunity in 2017 to look for an additional TV channel to add to our local content repertoire, we were very excited".

"It actually was a great experience for us because we had the opportunity to now go outside of the MultiChoice stable, outside of the M-Net stable, to look for something different - to look for additional voices that reflect who South Africans are. So that is how Moja Love came about and on 14 February 2018 we finally launched the channel."

"Moja Love came with a number of brand-new content like No Excuse Pay Papgeld which started off being a bit controversial but Moja Love told stories that a lot of black South Africans wanted to hear and see a reflection of who we are."

"So as MultiChoice we are very proud to see how Moja Love has grown from strength to strength and we see that in the ratings and we also see it in the talent that they've uncovered over the last couple of months."

"It's been 14 months now that Moja Love has been on DStv so we're very proud of Moja Love and we can't wait to see what more they have in store for us."


ALSO READ: IN IMAGES. 24 photos of Moja Love's 2019 Content Showcase.
ALSO READ: The Moja Love 2019 Content showcase sizzle reel.
ALSO READ: Big revamp for second season of Show Me Love starting 3 June on Moja Love; local talk show to broadcast live, add politics, with new location, new studio, new panellists and more daring content.
ALSO READ: New Moja Love conflict reality show exposing cheating lovers, Uyajola 9/9, is "not for the faint-hearted" warns presenter Jub Jub. 
ALSO READ: After delays, the reality show, Zodwa Wabantu Uncensored, is starting on Moja Love on Saturday 25 May as the Vosho Queen gives viewers a glimpse of her surreal life with a "16-ish" age restriction. 
ALSO READ: TV CRITIC's NOTEBOOK. So, the Moja Love channel on DStv held a content showcase event and it was basically perfect - with 2 things that were a pleasant surprise and positives for SA's TV biz.
ALSO READ: TV CRITIC's NOTEBOOK. For a channel with 'love' in its name, Moja Love's content is built on a collection of conflict. For how long will its viewers thirst to watch the fight?

IN IMAGES. 24 photos of Moja Love's 2019 Content Showcase.

Last week the Moja Love (DStv 157) channel, run by Siyaya TV, held its first-ever Moja Love Content Showcase since the channel launched in February 2018 on MultiChoice's DStv satellite pay-TV platform.

Held at the World of Yamaha Theatre in Sandton, Johannesburg, Penny Lebyane who is the presenter of Kukithi La on the channel, was the moderator of Moja Love's 2019 content upfront.

Bokani Moyo, Moja Love's head of unscripted content, appeared on stage and spoke, as did Nwabisa Matyumza, MultiChoice's new head of content for Southern Africa.

The channel's various on-air talent from several shows were also seated on stage to answer some questions later during the presentation that include a sizzle reel.

Moja Love's current and upcoming weekly programming slate includes shows ranging from Rea Tsotella, Uthando Noxolo, No Excuse Pay Papgeld, Show Me Love, Bheka Mina Ngedwa, Kukithi La and Traditional Wedding, to Village Girls and the new reality shows Zodwa Wabantu: Uncensored and Uyajola 9/9 with presenter Jub Jub starting in May.

ALSO READ: The Moja Love 2019 Content showcase sizzle reel.

ALSO READ: With daring, boundary-pushing reality shows, the Moja Love channel on DStv says it's aspiring "to innovate, to change and challenge the South African TV landscape".

ALSO READ: Big revamp for second season of Show Me Love starting 3 June on Moja Love; local talk show to broadcast live, add politics, with new location, new studio, new panellists and more daring content.

ALSO READ: New Moja Love conflict reality show exposing cheating lovers, Uyajola 9/9, is 'not for the faint-hearted' warns presenter Jub Jub.

ALSO READ: After delays, the reality show, Zodwa Wabantu Uncensored, is starting on Moja Love on Saturday 25 May as the Vosho Queen gives viewers a glimpse of her surreal life with a '16-ish' age restriction.

ALSO READ: TV CRITIC's NOTEBOOK. So, the Moja Love channel on DStv held a content showcase event and it was basically perfect - with 2 things that were a pleasant surprise and positives for SA's TV biz.

ALSO READ: TV CRITIC's NOTEBOOK. For a channel with 'love' in its name, Moja Love's content is built on a collection of conflict. For how long will its viewers thirst to watch the fight?