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” say 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.

Having any fun yet?

Top Gun: Maverick is now streaming on Showmax, having just been named Best Movie, Best Wide Release Movie and Best Action & Adventure Movie at Rotten Tomatoes’ Golden Tomato Awards, which recognise the best reviewed films of the year. Top Gun: Maverick currently has a 96% rating from over 450 critics and a 99% audience score from over 50 000 fans on the site.

After more than 30 years of service as one of the navy’s top aviators, Pete “Maverick” Mitchell (Oscar nominee Tom Cruise) is where he belongs, pushing the envelope as a courageous test pilot and dodging the advancement in rank that would ground him.

When he finds himself training a detachment of Top Gun graduates for a specialised mission the likes of which no living pilot has ever seen, Maverick encounters Lt. Bradley Bradshaw (Sundance winner Miles Teller), call sign “Rooster,” the son of Maverick’s late friend and Radar Intercept Officer Lt. Nick Bradshaw, aka “Goose.” Rooster’s father trusted Maverick; he isn’t about to make the same mistake.

Facing an uncertain future and confronting the ghosts of his past, Maverick is drawn into a confrontation with his own deepest fears.

Oscar winner Jennifer Connelly (A Beautiful Mind), Emmy winner Jon Hamm (Mad Men), four-time Oscar nominee Ed Harris (Westworld), multi-award-winner Val Kilmer (Heat) and Monica Barbaro (UnREAL) co-star.

The second biggest box office hit globally, Top Gun: Maverick has already won more than 60 international awards and is one of the 100 top-rated movies of all time on IMDb. It was also named the best film of 2022 by media as varied as Complex, The Globe and Mail, IMDb, People, The Telegraph, Total Film, Uproxx, and The Washington Post.

As Rotten Tomatoes says, “Top Gun: Maverick is why we love the blockbuster experience: exhilarating action with big emotional stakes and an on-your-feet sunset ending.”

Similarly, Independent calls it “as thrilling as blockbusters get”; Daily Telegraph hails it as “unquestionably the best studio action film since 2015’s Mad Max: Fury Road”; and Time/Out says, “You will want to high five someone on the way out.”

Top Gun: Maverick has been shortlisted in multiple Oscar categories and is already nominated for four 2023 BAFTAs, including Cinematography and Special Visual Effects; the Screen Actors Guild award for Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble; and a Grammy for its soundtrack, among other honours.

Showmax is also streaming the original 1980s classic, Top Gun, directed by the late Tony Scott and co-starring the likes of Oscar winner Tim Robbins (The Shawshank Redemption), Emmy winners Anthony Edwards (ER) and Tom Skerritt (Alien), multi-award-winner Meg Ryan (When Harry Met Sally) and the late Kelly McGillis (Witness). Top Gun won an Oscar for Giorgio Moroder’s Take My Breath Away, a Grammy for Harold Faltermeyer and Steve Steven’s Top Gun Anthem, and the 1987 People’s Choice Award for Favourite Motion Picture, among other accolades.

So whether you’re feeling a need for speed, or Tom Cruise, Jennifer Connelly, Miles Teller, old-school action or 80s nostalgia, it’s time to strap in to Showmax.

Watch the Top Gun: Maverick trailer:

Watch the Top Gun trailer:

Showmax’s January movie line-up also includes the Oscar-nominated House of Gucci, the BAFTA-winning Licorice Pizza, and the animated blockbuster The Addams Family 2, with Jordan Peele’s Get Out, just named one of the top 100 films of all time in Sight & Sound’s once-a-decade critics’ poll, available from 26 January 2023, and 2022 BAFTA winner Together, starring James McAvoy and Sharon Horgan, available from 30 January 2023.

Showmax is also home to a wealth of Tom Cruise classics, including Mission: Impossible – Fallout, American Made, Oblivion, Interview With The Vampire, and The Last Samurai, as well as Jack Reacher and its sequel, Jack Reacher: Never Go Back.

Pairs Yelisa, Santheo, Juvon and Juiovla are up for eviction in new twist

Week two in the Big Brother Titans house turned out to be a key week to level out the ratio of cliques and rivalries, with Biggie adding a new twist where housemates had to form duos before taking part in the Head of House games – and then being nominated for eviction as a duo.

Vying for the grand prize of US$100,000, Blaqboi & Ipeleng (Blaqleng) came out tops as their strategy and pace were tested as a pair during this week’s challenge.

Nelisa & Yemi Cregx (Yelisa), Sandra & Theo Traw (Santheo), Justin & Yvonne (Juvone), and Juicy Jay & Olivia (Juiovla) were the four pairs to be nominated for eviction this Sunday.

How did it work? Housemates had to pick a card with the name of the opposite gender and nationality. The content of the card ultimately carried the name of the housemate they would be paired with throughout the show and compete with for the HoH privilege.

During the first round, male housemates played the “junk in the trunk” game, shaking out ping-pong balls in a tissue box placed around their waists. This was tailed by their partners taking each other on with the viral wine glass race using a roll of toilet paper and a wine glass to pull the glass towards them as fast and effortless as they could.

For the second round, Blaqleng went head-to-head with Khosi & Miracle OP (Khosicle), where the pairs juggled balloons in the air with only two simple rules: keep all four balloons afloat at the same time while remaining in the designated square – the pair who held all balloons afloat the longest won the challenge.

Taking over from Khosi, Nelisa & Yemi Cregx (Yelisa) were announced as this week’s Tails and were told by Biggie that each will be given a white board to carry throughout the week. The two will have to write down anything they need to communicate with their housemates on the white board before speaking. To avoid any penalties, they must duplicate word for word what has been written on the board without adding or taking away any words.

Following the initial nomination of Yelisa, Santheo, Juvone and Ebubu & Tsatsii (Royals), Blaqleng used their veto power to save Royals – replacing them with Juiovla during an emotional nomination process.

Once the final nominations were locked in and announced to the housemates, Biggie warned the nominated pairs not to campaign for votes or talk about their nomination ahead of Sunday’s show where one of the nominated pairs could be the first to leave the #BBTitans house.

Fans can vote for their favourite pair on dstv.com/bigbrothertitans and by registering on the site, as well as the DStv and GOtv Self Service Apps.

Catch Big Brother Titans live, 24/7 on DStv Channel 198 and GOtv Channel 29. Keep up with the conversation with the hashtag #BBTitans, visit dstv.com/bigbrothertitans, and follow @BigBroAfrica on Twitter, bigbro_africa on Instagram, and @BigBrotherAfrica on Facebook. 

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