Adriano Visagie’s career boost through MultiChoice Talent Factory

STAFF REPORTER

Lead actor in the critically acclaimed movie ‘Salute’, Adriano Visagie’s discovery of the MultiChoice Talent Factory (MTF) portal led to a multitude of projects within Namibia’s creative industry.
The portal is an interactive online platform aimed at profiling and connecting Africa’s industry creatives and bringing pan-African talent and opportunities together in one place.
Visagie’s exposure to the portal was through a master class hosted by MultiChoice Namibia in 2019, which he described as “the first of its kind”, and his career has seen an incredible shift since.
“The master classes were hosted with the notion of different methods of storytelling at the same time the MTF Portal was launched, and I had the opportunity to sign up and register.”

African storytelling
“The master class I attended allowed me to write and understand African storytelling much better as well as do more research about African stories. For a moment, we have forgotten the importance of narrative related to the stories we were told growing up in the village under the tree or around the fire,” Visagie said.
Using the MTF portal, he connected with South African voice-over artist, host and media practitioner Sisanda Ntshinga, who currently hosts a variety of online shows including ‘On The Couch’, a weekly show focused on phenomenal creatives in the world of business and those doing social good.
“After linking up on the portal, we exchanged contacts and connected via social media,” Visagie explained.
“Sisanda and I shared ideas regarding online shows especially during the current pandemic where mass gatherings couldn’t take place.”

Great network of creatives
Recommending the portal to any and every one, Visagie said it deserves more sign-ups as it has contributed to his network positively and successfully.
“The portal provides such a great network of creatives. Being able to collaborate - especially now more than ever - is necessary, seeing that online is the new normal. It’s imperative we harness collaborative work.”
He has since collaborated with Beso Media and Monochrome Magazine to interview Namibian creatives, allowing them to share their creative processes and how they had to adapt due to the global pandemic on his show, ‘Live with Adriano’.
“Due to a lack of funding, we have put it on hold for now, however, we’re eager to continue as we want make sure that we are able to pay the creatives we interview with a little incentive for sharing their expertise.”
Despite the show’s hiatus, this has not discouraged Visagie from sharing more Namibian stories.

Impressive year
This year saw great success for the award-winning actor - he has worked on two films, ‘Sacred Places’ by Lloyd Winini and ‘Kapana’ by Philippe Talavera, and has since completed an online theatre production titled ‘Boet en Sus’ for the National Theatre of Namibia, which was directed by local award-winning artist Lize Ehlers.
Visagie expressed his appreciation to MultiChoice Namibia and Allison Triegaardt, a master class subject matter expert who played a pivotal role in creating and establishing a platform like the Africa Magic Viewer’s Choice Awards in Lagos, Nigeria, which he attended when ‘Salute’ was nominated in the best film – southern Africa category.
If you are eager to share your story, make sure you connect with the African creative industry on the portal via www.multichoicetalentfactory.com, and join webinars hosted by MTF.