Budding and innovative film makers in the Nigerian movie industry have received a boost as MTN Afrinolly, the premier Nigerian mobile phone app that enables users watch movie trailers, launched a short film competition on November 1, 2012.   Tagged – ‘Afrinolly Shortfilm Competition’, the initiative is a video-based competition targeted at budding film-makers and documentary/animation content creators. Candidates are expected to submit a sub-15minutes film that can be easily assessed on mobile devices. The competition will run for three months and submissions will be made online on the website – www.afrinollyshortfilmcompetition.com   “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, the CEO of FansConnectOnline Limited who developed Afrinolly.   “The competition will target over 1,000 film makers across Africa and ultimately provide the right push to some of the most talented creators in the continent. Winners will be rewarded with prizes worth $100,000 in cash and kind; while top participants will be offered the opportunity to sign online distribution and content deals with Afrinolly.”   Members of the panel of judges include renowned experts in the entertainment and ICT industry globally. Among them are award winning Nollywood movie producers – Tunde Kelani, Emem Isong, and Femi Odugbemi. Trained at the London Film School, Tunde Kelani has been in the movie industry for over two decades. He is the founder of Mainframe Film and Television Production and remains a firm advocate of reviving the cinema in Nigeria by ensuring that all his award winning movies are created first for the cinemas before adapting to home movies.   Former banker and now award winning movie producer and scriptwriter, Emem Isong, is currently regarded as one of the best in Nollywood and has contributed to the development of the industry. Femi Odugbemi is a movie producer, writer and photographer. Trained in Film and TV Production at Montana State University, USA, he is famed for his screen credits which include Nigeria’s most popular game show – ‘Who wants to be a millionaire?’ His current works include another popular soap-opera, ‘Tinsel’.   Other members of the panel of judges, which is made up of experts from all over Africa, 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 film makers 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.   “This competition is the first of its kind in Africa,” said Maduegbuna, “given the high penetration of mobile devices, relative to desktop computers in Africa, the concept of the Afrinolly Shortfilm Competition was borne out of the need to create an ecosystem of short (sub-15minutes) film/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 2 sets of best ten and vote online to determine the winners per category.