Short film competition offers African filmmakers US$100 000

Launched by MTN Afrinolly, the premier Nigerian mobile phone app that enables users watch movie trailers, it is a video-based competition where candidates are expected to submit a sub-15 minute film that can be easily accessed on mobile devices. The competition will run for three months and submissions can be made online on the website.

"With this competition, we aim at showcasing African talent online and providing a platform to foster the creation of new online content produced by Africans," said Chike Maduegbuna, CEO of FansConnectOnline, which developed Afrinolly.

"The competition will target over 1000 filmmakers across Africa and ultimately provide the right push to some of the most talented creators in the continent. Winners will be rewarded with prizes in cash and kind; while top participants will be offered the opportunity to sign online distribution and content deals with the company."

Panel of judges

Members of the panel of judges include experts in the entertainment and ICT industry globally and experts from all over Africa. Among them are award winning Nollywood movie producers, Tunde Kelani, Emem Isong, and Femi Odugbemi.

Other members of the panel of judges, include professionals who have equally excelled and contributed immensely in their careers. Coupled with the prizes attached to winners, the competition has the potential of being the biggest promotional event for budding filmmakers in the continent.

A further breakdown of the cash prizes show that the overall winner will smile home with $25,000, the first runner up will get $10,000 and the second runner up will receive $5,000 in two categories namely Short movie and Documentary.

High penetration of mobile devices

"Given the high penetration of mobile devices, relative to desktop computers in Africa, the concept was borne out of the need to create an ecosystem of short (sub-15 minutes) ?lm/movie content that can be easily consumed on mobile devices."

He explained that the competition is 360- degrees online and the plan is to shortlist 30 submissions for the two categories and each judge will watch and select the best ten per category. Thereafter, the internet public will watch the two sets of best ten and vote online to determine the winners per category.

MTN, Blackberry, iRep, Goethe Institut and Google, as the social media partner, are supporting the competition.

For more, go to www.afrinollyshortfilmcompetition.com