Samuel Okoruwa
There’s no limit to what a blend of talent and hard-work can create. At least, that’s what 8 Nigerian teenagers from Kaduna have proved with their awesome initiative to shoot sci-fi movies.
The teenagers, who go by the name “The Critics”, started garnering attention after renowned filmmaker Kemi Adetiba endorsed them in an enthusiastic tweet in June.
She also organized a funding campaign for the group which accrued about 5,800 USD to help them upgrade their equipment.
With simple tools and just a cracked smartphone, this crew of talented teens has carved a niche for themselves in the sci-fi genre and keep mesmerizing their audiences with intriguing short films.
The Critics shot their first film “Redemption” in 2016 after learning visual effects from online tutorials on YouTube. They also revealed that they had to save for a month to buy the green fabric they used for chroma key compositing.
“We are teenage filmmakers and we made history by making the first sci-fi film in Northern Nigeria. Over the years, working on some projects has not been easy and we couldn’t work on some that we had in mind due to financial difficulties and no resources,” the group wrote in an Instagram post.
Despite all these challenges, they have shot about 20 10-minute-long short films which centre around supernatural characters such as aliens and superheroes.
One of the crew members, Godwin Josiah, explained why they ventured into the making of sci-fi films. According to him, the aim was not to go viral but to prove to the world that Northern Nigerian kids are doing something extraordinary.
Without any iota of doubt, these kids are indeed doing something different. Their work has been so inspiring that they were invited by Governor El Rufai of Kaduna state, who commended their ingenuity and assured them of his support.
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