On Thursday, July 14, 2022, a four-week film training by the Africa Movie Academy, AMA, under the film in a box project came to an end in the Alimosho local government area of Lagos state.

The film training project, which is a brainchild of Peace Anyiam-Osigwe led AMA, had star actor Keppy Ekpeyong and film director Achor Yusuf training over 200 young Nigerians with aspirations to become part of the Nigerian film industry.

A chat with the facilitators at the end of the training revealed that participants in Alimosho embraced the teachings and opportunities provided by AMA in collaboration with the Lagos State government under the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

Speaking on the progress and general overview of the training, Ekpeyong said, “We had the mandate to train a minimum of 250 participants in three local government areas, so we flagged off her in Alimosho. Initially, we did not expect what we encountered, we have been shocked and surprised by the reception. I think Alimosho managed to change the facilitators because we have evolved people who have become what they want to be. Some really came in with passion and by the second week, they became unbelievable. We had people who came in shy, crying, or mute but right now, we have performers.”

On his expectations from the participants, Ekpeyong said, “We are so happy that there are more people here who would make it as actors outside mediocrity, outside social media hype, we have a lot of great people here in about six solid areas.”

Another facilitator and film director, Achor Yusuf expressed shock and delight at the talent and dedication of the participants saying, “this is massive, the impact on society is massive. There’s so much crime around but if you think deeply about it, you would realise that this is as a result of so much negative space where people are not positively engaged.”

Continuing, Achor said, “I really commend the Lagos State government in partnership with the African Film Academy for this initiative. The kind of people we find here, are young people, mature people who are interested in bettering their craft, and in a matter of time, we all will see the impact on the Nigerian film industry because I see the eagerness and zeal that the participants showed.”

Sylvia Chiwendu, a participant shared her experience during the four weeks of training. The 22-year-old, who majored in scriptwriting, said the experience has been exciting and interesting as she learned more from facilitators than she already knew. “It’s very interesting and I learned a lot from our facilitators, Mr. Joe and Mr. Tony. It’s very practical but this is actually my first time having formal training. My major takeaway is learning the business of film.”

For Samuel Sawyerr, AMA’s film in a box project and training came at a trying time in his life. “Film in a box found me at a time where I was almost losing it. I was home thinking about how to take the next step in my career and I saw the ad online and I put in for it. Though I thought it was a hoax or scam until I got the mail that I was admitted for the training. It’s been amazing,” he said.

Peace Anyiam-Osigwe, the Chief Executive Officer of Africa Movie Academy and founder of the Africa Movie Academy Awards, AMAA, was also spotted on the last day of the training.

Anyiam-Osigwe took time out to have a conversation with the participants in a mini-town hall meeting where she touched on several issues and the need for the participants to be firm in their resolution to become film practitioners.

In a chat with the media, Anyiam-Osigwe revealed plans by AMA to invest time and resources in the trainees while expressing gratitude to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu and the Ministry of Arts, Culture, and Tourism.

“This is a six weeks training, they have done four weeks of training and learning and they will be going for practical, that means hooting a film for the next two weeks. It’s actually been an interesting time, especially with the kind of students we have had here in Alimosho and we have done it from basics and taken them through the rudiments to the business of films. It’s been interesting seeing the amount of talent that we have found. I can tell you we have identified several real talents that will go on and do incredibly in the industry. From Alimosho, we would be moving to Badagry.”