Nigerian Movie On Internet Fraudsters Wins $1m At&t Grant

BEVERLY HILLS, April 24, (THEWILL) – A proposed movie on email scammers, ‘Nigerian Prince’ written and directed by Nigeria's Biyi Bandele and Oscar Hernandez-Topete, has won a $1 million AT&T grant at the Tribeca Film Festival.

Reports say the telecommunications giant will provide funding of up to $1 million for Bandele to create his movie which clinched the prize at the film festival in New York on April 20.

Based on the notorious email scams from Nigerians, the movie tells the story of a stubborn Nigerian-American teenager sent back to Nigeria against his will.

Things took another turn when he joined forces with an internet scammer in order to return to the United States, U.S.

While Tribeca will be providing mentorship from seasoned industry professionals, AT&T also plans to distribute the winning film across several of its video platforms.

Bandele is a Nigerian novelist, playwright and filmmaker. The first film he directed: “Half of a Yellow Sun” was screened in the special presentation section at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival while his other movie, “Fifty” was included in the 2015 London Film Festival.

Bandele also directed the third season of the popular MTV drama series, “Shuga”.