-- --
Facebook
Twitter
Google
Pinterest
How do we ensure that the next generation of filmmakers in Africa have the skills and tools necessary to compete in the global environment? Are there enough film schools across the continent to provide the training and resources that are needed? What bodies and organisations are working towards supporting and developing film and content production skills in various countries?
These are just some of the questions I have been asking myself and others in the last few weeks. Working towards putting together the second annual Film School Programme for this year's Zanzibar International Film Festival (ZIFF), has gotten me almost obsessed with the state of film and related training in the region. It has been unexpectedly challenging to develop this year's programme in terms of finding partners and sponsors willing to put their money where their mouth is in support of young people and their future.
-- --
The Film School Programme at ZIFF started last year and the festival was overwhelmed with the response from young people, educators and facilitators. Over 80 young people travelled for two days across Kenya and Tanzania to attend two days' worth of workshops and events. However, attempting to expand the programme this year with the support of related brands and organisations has proven virtually impossible.
The demand and hunger for these skills continues to grow, and one can pretty clearly correlate the size and growth of a national film industry to the amount of film schools that exist. Africa's leading countries in terms of film production (albeit original films or servicing international productions) are South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya, so not surprisingly one finds these countries also have the most opportunities for film related education.
Of course in South Africa there is a wide array of film schools and programmes to choose from; AFDA, Big Fish, City Varsity, University of Cape Town (UCT), SAE Institute, University of the Witwatersrand (WITS), just to name a few. In fact, the Wits School of Arts was even named as one of the top 15 film schools in the world by The Hollywood Reporter in 2016 and a cursory search can find at least 50 different institutions or programmes across the country.
There are also festivals such as Behind the Blazer Film Festival, presented in association with the National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF). The Behind the Blazer Film Festival is an event that showcases films made by South African high school students from townships, developing cities and rural areas.
Nigeria also has over 50 film schools across the country, and not just in the major urban centres. The film school landscape in Nigeria is not just quantitatively large, but also diverse in approaches and programmes. The schools include well-known ones like the National Film Institute, Jos; African Film and Media College, Lagos; Cifraz Film Institute, Bauchi; Disciples Film and Television Institute, Lagos.
Many of these schools are also creating international partnerships, for example, in the last few years the Asian Academy of Film and Television has partnered with the National Film Institute, Jos to present the International Student's Film Festival at Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria.
It was also just announced in March 2018 that the French, German and Japanese Embassies in Nigeria are collaborating on setting up film schools in the country, according to Denys Gauer, French Ambassador to Nigeria.
Kenya is also really gearing up in terms of film and related education and training, with the government even considering the inclusion of visual and performing arts within its new school curriculum. There are about five public institutions offering degrees and a host of other smaller private academies and institutions offering both short and long courses.
In fact, most of the young people who attended last year's ZIFF Film School Workshops came through two Kenyan based programmes - both of which provide technical content production training in high schools and primary schools. Re-tuning Cinema in Africa is a programme headed by Mark Wambui that teaches filmmaking in a host of schools in Nariobi, while the University of Nairobi has a project that reaches into dozens of high schools and primary schools across the country.
The number of film schools in a country however is not always an indicator of the quality of the education or the outcomes being produced. The quality of degrees available across the continent varies, and also the ability of many young people to pay for this kind of education is another major stumbling block.
As with most educational needs in Africa, the only way to really ensure that enough students are able to attend quality institutions is to create partnerships between the schools, government and the private sector. Projects such as the Film School Programme at ZIFF is but one of these initiatives that needs support from the East African region. This year's programme may only take place in a very limited format unless sufficient funds and partners can be found. Anyone interested in getting involved can email workshops@ziff.or.tz.
By Lara Preston
Facebook
Twitter
Google
Pinterest
-- --
Most recent headlines
11/12/2025
Dalet, a leading provider of cloud-native, end-to-end media workflow solutions, ...
06/12/2025
In a live broadcast from the Reagan National Defense Forum, L3Harris Chair and CEO Christopher Kubasik joined Morgan Brennan on CNBCs Closing Bell: Overtime. Ku...
06/12/2025
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. A new survey from Pixitmedia by Datacore revealed a major shift in the Media & Entertainment industry in media archiving, with 85% of resp...
06/12/2025
HACKENSACK, N.J. LiveU has announced that the national public broadcaster Czech Television has completed one of the largest LiveU live production deployments fo...
06/12/2025
NEW YORK The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) presented the Excellence in Production Technology Emmy Award to NASA+ and Dr. Tom Leight...
05/12/2025
2025 Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame: Curt Gowdy Jr. - Master Storyteller, Nati...
05/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Veritone's Sean King on the Power of Mining Video, Audio DataThe company's Data Refinery offers users total control and governance over da...
05/12/2025
Platinum White Paper: Inside the Nashville Predators' Unified, Flexible, Sca...
05/12/2025
Netflix Reaches Agreement To Acquire Warner Bros. Following Planned WBD SplitThe deal does not include WBDs sports assets like TNT Sports (US, UK, LatAm), Euros...
05/12/2025
FOX Sports Returns to Indianapolis for Primetime Broadcast of Big Ten Championsh...
05/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Digital Engagement & Monetization Workshop Tackles the ...
05/12/2025
Atlanta United Lights Up New Emory Healthcare Studio With First Live Broadcast f...
05/12/2025
As Messi Takes the Pitch, MLS, Apple, NEP Roll Out Largest MLS Cup Production Ev...
05/12/2025
ESPN Enters College Football's Most Intense Month With Elevated Workflows fo...
05/12/2025
It's about that time! Awards season is in full swing, and the Film Independe...
05/12/2025
Every year, Spotify Wrapped offers a personalized look back at the audio that defined your year. It's a snapshot of your listening habits, designed to tell ...
05/12/2025
In 2025, Spotify's EQUAL, GLOW, and RADAR programs celebrated women, LGBTQIA , and emerging artists who turned moments into milestones. From breaking record...
05/12/2025
In our latest blog, we explain how Wi-Fi 7 rollouts can drive consumer loyalty with value-add services such as consumer cybersecurity. We also explore how this ...
05/12/2025
LOS ANGELES Netflix announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire the assets of Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion....
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Nielsens Gracenote has launched Gracenote Content Connect, a new ad platform that provides agencies, brands, supply-side platforms (SSPs) and demand-si...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK In an most important update to the workings of deal-based programmatic advertising, IAB Tech Lab has released version 1.0 of its Deals API for public c...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Pass the turkey. Pass the stuffing. Pass the cranberry sauce. All are common requests of Americans celebrating Thanksgiving Day with family and f...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Iris, the new cloud-connected camera control platform, has officially launched with features that turn virtually any PTZ camera into a software-connect...
05/12/2025
HOLLYWOOD, Calif. Netflix announced today that it has entered into an agreement to acquire the assets of Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion....
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Iris, the new cloud-connected camera control platform, has officially launched with features that turn virtually any PTZ camera into a software-connect...
05/12/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has approved AT&T's $1.02 billion acquisition of spectrum from UScellular in a decision that was issued sho...
05/12/2025
The Best Coldplay Songs: 21 Tracks That Shoot for the Stars From Yellow to Viva La Vida, Fix You to Paradise, this playlist goes back to the start.
December ...
05/12/2025
Zafris Lecture Series Brings Nabil Ayers to Berklee The 32nd annual James G. Zafris Distinguished Lecture series was held on Thursday, November 13, with guest...
05/12/2025
Back to All News
Netflix Unveils the First Look for Land of Sin' - Premier...
05/12/2025
Introducing New Perks to Help You Get Even More from LinkedIn Premium Published on Dec 5, 2025 Categories: Company News, Product News
LinkedIn Corporate Co...
05/12/2025
Friday 5 December 2025
A new Game of Thrones Tale: Official trailer for Sky Exc...
05/12/2025
Back to All News
Don Lee, Lee Jin-uk, and Lalisa Manobal to Star in Netflix Act...
05/12/2025
Tis the season of giving once again and this year we've taken our Give Back Fridays' concept and turned it on its head.
In the autumn we were approach...
05/12/2025
Brayden Gogis doesn't remember a time when he wasn't completely fixated on games in all forms. In preschool, when they asked us to dress up as what we ...
05/12/2025
The Grinch steals the spotlight as the theme for The Late Late Toy Show 2025
Tune in tonight at 9:35pm on RT One and worldwide on RT Player
#LateLateToyShow...
05/12/2025
RT Announces New Presenters of Flagship News Programmes
New RT Six One News co-presenter Tommy Meskill
Sarah McInerney & Justin McCarthy join Morning Ir...
04/12/2025
ToolsOnAir Blackmagic Design HyperDeck Event Presets for just:in mac pro 2025 & ...
04/12/2025
ToolsOnAir AJA Ki Pro Event Presets for just:in mac pro 2025 & just:in linux
More Details:Starting with version 5.5, both just:in mac pro and just:in linux sol...
04/12/2025
Wangu Kanuri from Kenya and Godwin Asediba from Ghana are two of this years finalists for Thomsons Young Journalist of the Year Award. The pair are runners-up i...
04/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: ProximaVision's Claudio Lisman on Why Tethered Drones Could Be...
04/12/2025
SVG Campus Shot Callers: Imry Halevi, Senior Associate Director of Athletics, Co...
04/12/2025
Platinum White Paper: LiveU Lightweight Sports Production: A Step Change in Spor...
04/12/2025
London to Riyadh: DAZN brings the boxing glamour to new production levels for Be...
04/12/2025
Analysis: Paramount bets on the battering ram' with Champions League play By Callum McCarthy, Editor-at-Large
Tuesday, December 2, 2025 - 10:12
Print ...
04/12/2025
Space City Home Network Launches SCHN DTC App for Astros and RocketsThe Rockets and Astros were previously the lone NBA and MLB teams without a DTC appBy Jason...
04/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Content Workflows Workshop Spotlights Evolution of Spor...
04/12/2025
New Sponsor Spotlight: Geotech's Patrick Wambold On the Unreal Engine Revolu...
04/12/2025
Curt Gowdy Jr. - Master Storyteller, Nationally and RegionallyBy Jason Dachman, Editorial Director, U.S.
Thursday, December 4, 2025 - 1:52 pm
Print This Sto...
04/12/2025
(L-R) Rebecca Lichtenfeld, Mohammadreza Eyni, Sara Khaki, and Judith Helfand att...
-- -- 
