Talius Dike 
The African Movie Academy Award (AMAA) has partnered with Nigeria’s pay-tv company, StarTimes to hold a unique film festival for short films.
AMAA’s founder, Peace Anyiam-Osigwe, made the announcement of the partnership at an event held in Lagos, Nigeria.
“I am happy to announce a new venture in the long-term partnership between AMAA and StarTimes. The two media and television companies have partnered to grow the Nigerian and African film industry through a film festival solely for short films.
“Our partnership will see short films airing from Mondays to Fridays on StarTimes leading channels like ST Nollywood Plus, ST Nollywood, and ST Yoruba between 4 PM and 6 PM amongst other offerings.
“This partnership is big to us because it enables us to grow the short film industry in Nigeria and across Africa. We are happy that StarTimes keyed into this journey with us to give opportunities to young and existing filmmakers,” Ms. Anyiam-Osigwe said.
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On his part, StarTimes CEO, Alex Jian, said the collaboration with AMAA is very crucial and strategic with the growing demand for quality local content by Nigerian and African film practitioners. Jian further noted that StarTimes is glad to strengthen its partnership with AMAA to bring significant impact to the Nigerian and African film industry by ensuring the growth of filmmakers and getting value for their productions.
Anyiam-Osigwe also noted that the festival will also include a competition of some of the best short films registered and winners will be rewarded with cash prizes of up to N3m.
“Already, we have begun a massive call for submission of entries from filmmakers, who specialise or have short films. Entries can be submitted between March 20, 2022, and April 20, 2022.
“The festival will commence on April 25, 2022, and run for a whole month till May 25, 2022. During the festivals, exceptional films that make the cut will compete for cash prizes of $3,000 (first prize) and a laptop, $2,000 (second prize) and a phone, $1,000 (third prize) with a phone, and a special prize of N500,000 for the best documentary,” she concluded.
Submissions for the AMAA Startimes Online Short film Festival are open till April 20, 2022.
Submit your film(s) not longer than 40 minutes via bit.ly/THESHORTS2022
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