Young Peckham filmmaker is awarded scholarship to attend world-famous film school

A young filmmaker, who dropped out of teacher training to pursue her dreams, has been awarded a scholarship to attend a world-famous film school.

Chinaza Onyechi, from Peckham, has been awarded MetFilm School’s first Black Student of Talent scholarship, to attend the film school based at London’s Ealing Studios.

The 25-year-old history graduate was awarded the scholarship which can be worth up to £54,000.

Ms Onyechi said: “It’s a huge, huge deal. I couldn’t believe it, I was blown away when I heard that I was the recipient, I didn’t know what to do with myself.

“I couldn’t have afforded to attend the school, not right now anyway.

I don’t come from a wealthy background. I am really grateful.”

Ms Onyechi’s creative journey started at school when she launched a ‘side hustle’ from the playground – designing graphics for other pupils’ social media profiles.

Her creativity continued into her teens when she volunteered for two years at Reprezent Radio and attended Albany Theatre’s media production summer school.

Despite this, she was encouraged by her parents to consider a more traditional career in law, medicine, or engineering.

She won a local scholarship to support her higher education and decided to do a history degree to “keep her options open”.

She went on to study history at the University of Southampton, drawn to the course by the inclusion of black history in its programme.

She said: “My father was a soldier in the Nigerian civil war.

“The war influenced both my parents’ lives, and they shared their stories with my siblings and me.

“I wanted to write about my father and mother’s history, as so much of it is not written from a Nigerian perspective.

“There is a lot of work to do reforming the history curriculum in England, it tends to focus on American slavery and the Civil Rights movement, fast forwarding over British involvement in the ‘not so nice’ aspects of black history.”

Once graduated, Ms Onyechi worked as a creative freelancer but then reluctantly started teacher training.

She said: “I have so much respect for teachers, teaching is incredibly hard work.

“I worked in a secondary school, and it was very intense. It’s a job that demands so much from you, and much of your free time – your heart has to be in it.”

After dropping out of teacher training, Ms Onyechi secured a part-time job with a film company, which cemented her desire to be part of the industry.

The MetFilm School announced The Dan Demissie Voices That Matter Scholarship for a Black Student of Talent last year, to support the professional advancement of black filmmakers.

Through her scholarship, Ms Onyechi will now study an MA in Post Production and learn about editing, visual effects, colour grading, and sound.

She said: “When I graduate from MetFilm School I want to secure a job in the industry.

“I love to work in post production on a Marvel or Christopher Nolan film.

“Working on something with Beyònce would be the dream.”