The Afrinolly Short Film Competition kicked off in November 2012 with over 500 entries received by the submission deadline of 31 January 2013. An international panel of judges led by documentary filmmaker Femi Odugbemi, screened the 200 plus entries that met the competition's requirements and arrived at a shortlist of 20 films in both the short film and documentary categories.
The award presentation was compered by Buchi, comedian and MC, with Afrinolly's Andre Blaze introducing Chike Maduegbuna, CEO of FCO Limited, developers of the MTN Afrinolly mobile phone app and initiators of the Afrinolly Short Film Competition. Maduegbuna spoke about Afrinolly and how the short film contest was born. Some of the awardees were around to receive their prizes with others sending in proxies.
Director of The Promise, Akin Okunrinboye, was on hand to receive his $10 000 prize for second-best short film from life coach Lanre Olushola, who also gave the $5 000 cheque for third-best to Ishaya Bako and Samuel Umejiaku of Homevida for To Serve with All Our Strength.
Saidat Lawal-Mohammed, segment manager MTN Nigeria gave the cheques for the second- and third- best documentaries to Dipo Olugbode and Charles Binitie respectively. Both were proxies for the winners Soji Oyinsan II and Joseph Akwasi, who are based outside Nigeria.
The first place winner in the short film category, Anthony Onah (Dara Ju) was represented by Arie Esiri. Esiri, received the $25 000 cash prize from Sahara Energy's Tonye Cole. Bemigho Awala, who directed first-place documentary Hustle On A Mile, in company of the film's producer Bayo Omoboriowo received their cheque from MTN Guinea's chief marketing officer (CMO) Sekou Oumar Barry.
The Afrinolly Short Film Competition aims to digitally showcase African cinema talent and provide a platform to foster the production of African content and make same available online. The competition was supported by MTN, Goethe Institut, Blackberry, IREP and Google as the social media partner.
