Tech whizzes Godwin Josiah 19, Raymond Yusuff 17, Lawson Titus 17, Ronald Yusuff 15, Victor Josiah 15, Richard Yusuff 14, Rejoice Josiah 12, Rachael Yusuff 8, Rachael Ken 5 have been the talk of town all week, for their ingenuity and creativity. The group which goes by the name ‘The Critic,’ have made headlines in Nigeria and internationally, for their ability to create special effects and sci fi movies, using basic tools like a mobile phone with a smashed screen as camera and a green screen. The filmmakers were guests of the Kaduna State Governor, Malam Nasir El-Rufai who according to Twitter posts on the State government’s page, praised their creativity, offered government’s support and constituted a team of senior officials to work on the details with their family. The cousins have also drawn the attention of Hollywood’s Franklin Leonard, founder and author of ‘The Black List,’ a platform with movies which have received 262 Academy Awards nominations and won 53 of them. These include four of the last 10 Oscars for Best Picture and 10 of the last 22 Oscars for Best Screenplay Oscars. Leonard had seemingly heard about the wunderkinds, after reading an Aljazeera report posted on Twitter about them. He responded saying, “Can anyone put me in touch with these kids?” Godwin Yusuf told our reporter that they have established contacts with him.” Their work has also caught the admiration of a professor at the Havard Kennedy School, Rev. Cornell William Brooks, who is beckoning on Hollywood to help group. He posted on Twitter, saying, “I would LOVE to see these Nigerian teenagers’ films in my local movie theater. Anybody in Hollywood willing to help? @Variety.” In an interview with Daily Trust, Godwin who spoke on behalf of the upcoming SFX gurus said, the reactions have been shocking. “We didn’t expect it to be this big. Yes, we know we were going to one day blow. But at this point, it is quite higher than we actually expected it. We are taking it in, good but, it is still shocking to us.” Godwin said they were from watching movies and following great directors. “Basically, it came from everything Hollywood. We watched movies a lot, we love watching movies and discussing the movies. That is what inspired the whole thing,” he said. On what next from here, he said, “We are working on a particular project that is still confidential for now, but we hope to put something out as soon as we can.” Using a smashed mobile phone as camera, a broken microphone stand, as camera support, they have carved a niche for themselves with special effects. Their goal is to become Nigeria’s biggest sci fi producers. Their twitter following which was 425 before they went viral, had risen to 5,612 as at press time.
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