Michael Akinrogunde, who directed Penance, winner of Best Short Film/Online Video at the just concluded Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards (AMVCA), in company of the film’s producers, Accelerate TV, on Tuesday, September 4th, 2018, visited Access Bank CEO, Herbert Wigwe at the bank’s head office in Lagos for a presentation of the much celebrated award.
Michael Akinrogunde took home a much coveted AMVCA for Penance, his first film after successfully taking part in Accelerate TV’s Filmmaker Project 2017. Penance, the story of a priest and his confessions beat four other nominees, The Housewife by Jay Franklin Jituboh, Tolu by Nadine Ibrahim, Lodgers by Ken Ogunlola and Tanwa and The Child We Wanted by Adenike Adebayo, to take home the prize. Michael’s Penance was also one of the 5 films produced by Accelerate TV for the Top 5 winners of the maiden edition of Accelerate Film Maker Project.
Speaking at the presentation, Michael expressed his delight:
“I made Penance under the Accelerate Film Maker Project platform and it was my first film ever. I had only garnered experience from YouTube, reading, and learning about filmmaking from trainers in the Accelerate Filmmaker Project classes. I am really grateful for the guidance from the Accelerate TV family, which really helped me in my first time directing.”
On her own part, Group Head, Accelerate TV, Colette Otusheso said,
“The Accelerate Film Maker Project is really a passion project for us, and it’s quite rewarding to be able to train, inspire and empower young filmmakers to create freely. We just concluded the second edition of the project and are looking forward to premiering all the films at AFRIFF in November. We are super excited because we have come home with an AMVCA, which is one of the biggest creative industry awards in Africa.”
While receiving Michael and the Accelerate team, Access Bank MD/CEO, Herbert Wigwe congratulated the team, expressing his satisfaction with the work done.
Congratulations to Michael and the Accelerate team on the success of Penance. This is a fantastic achievement. Our next challenge now is to go global and show the world the amazing creative talent that Nigeria has to offer, and I trust that this is indeed an achievable goal.”
The Accelerate Film Maker Project started in 2017 with the mission to educate and empower a generation of young people in the art of film-making. The platform provides intense training for creatives in the areas of directing, production, script writing and more, taught by elite Nollywood professionals and industry veterans.
