The Kunle Afolayan Production Film and Television Academy is set to graduate its first set of trainees.
The graduates from the academy, founded by the award-winning Nigerian filmmaker, Kunle Afolayan, would also become certified affiliates of the School of Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California.
According to a statement made available to The PUNCH on Saturday, the graduation ceremony is scheduled for May 23, 2022.
With this graduation, the KAP Academy, in partnership with USC and Netflix, have successfully executed the first post-production programme in a series of training workshops in Africa.
Afolayan said, “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, Netflix Grow Creative Manager for Africa, Allison Triegaardt, said, “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 added, “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.”
Copyright PUNCH.
