Veteran Nigerian Filmmaker, Tunde Kelani, has launched the Mainframe Film and Media Institute (MFMI), a training facility in Nigeria whose stated mission is to contribute to the country’s national development by training talented young filmmakers and media professionals, drawing from the extensive knowledge, skills and industry insights of leading practitioners in Nigeria and abroad.
To start, MFMI is offering 8 week-long courses on the fundamentals of filmmaking facilitated by renowned professionals who will “impart artistic and technical education and practice to young ones and established industry professionals who need to update their skills from time to time.”
Mainframe Film and Media is located at in Abeokuta, the largest city and state capital of Ogun State in southwest Nigeria, with state-of-the-art production and post-production facilities for use in training sessions – a film training and filmmaking factory, as Kelani states, churning out the best Nigerian filmmakers from generation to generation.
“I have always wanted to do this but not without acquiring a level of maturity and experience to serve as the lubricant for effective transfer of experiences gained over a career spanning more than three decades,” the 68-year-old Kelani. “Consequently, I have a collection of works essentially narratives over a period of twenty years, coupled with my television newsreel works and documentaries. The appropriation of video technology or digital media made the ownership of means of production accessible to the masses, giving the African people voices and standpoints to tell stories about changes in their societies. I am therefore armed with proof that it is possible to appropriate technology and use it not only to entertain but to interrogate or initiate dialogue with an immediate audience first, and from there to a wider audience, and use cinema or media as a tool for social change. Fortunately, I am not alone in this quest. In fact, I am further emboldened by the readiness of seasoned industry professionals and academics who have agreed to be resource experts and advisory board to the Institute,” he added.
The school is open to those with a genuine desire to learn filmmaking who must be 18 years or older. Tuition is N150,000 (which is roughly $750).
Courses include the basics: scripting, directing, cinematography, production design, sound recording, etc.
On the Advisory Board with Kelani are Prof. Abdulrasheed Na ‘Allah, Prof. Sophie Oluwole, Prof. Femi Ojo-Ade, Prof. Akin Adesokan, Prof. Jude Akudinobi, Prof. Remi Raji, Segun Odegbami (MON), Olusade Taiwo, Dipo Famakinwa, Dr. Tunde Adegbola, Dr. Sola Olorunyomi, Dr. Tunde Awosanmi, Olajide Bello, Dr. Abayomi Ojebode, Dr. Olayinka Egbokhare, Jahman Anikulapo, Shaibu Husseini, Hafsat Abiola-Costello, Segun Adaju and Hakeem Adenekan.
Listed as members of faculty at MFMI are actor, Joke Muyiwa; award-winning writer, producer, and filmmaker, as well as fellow of the National Association of Nigerian Theatre Arts Practitioners, Femi Odugbemi; screenwriter and director Niji Akanni; and production designerOlatunji Afolayan. Others accomplished stage and screen actor Doyin Hassan, Ropo Ewenla, Steve Sodiya, Mumuni Olawale Kelani, Muritala Sule, Abdul Hafeez Abdulrahman, Rahman Oladigbolu, Abiodun Aleja, and Abisola Ojo are also involved.
Information on the institute can be found at www.mainframeinstitute.com.
