Nigerian Producer Josh Olaoluwa Among 27 Fellows Selected for 2024 Project Involve Initiative in Los Angeles

Josh Olaoluwa has been selected as one of the 27 fellows for the 2024 intake of the Project Involve program organized by Film Independent, coming on the heels of a long year of expanding his craft at Red Sea which ended with a prize win for his project, Fantastic Tale.

Josh worked as the showrunner of Grind, an audience-favourite limited series that debuted on Prime Video earlier this year. He is also credited as a producer on Netflix’s A Sunday Affair and The Making of a King. According to his bio on the announcement page, Josh also worked as a  producer of EbonyLife’s upcoming sequel series to Oloture.

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Project Involve is a development program that “fosters the careers of talented filmmakers from communities traditionally underrepresented in the film industry.”

The program runs from February to October. Selected fellows who are cinematographers, directors, editors, executives, producers and writers will be trained, mentored and supported as they sharpen their filmmaking skills. At the end of the program, they will be tasked with making short film projects in Los Angeles.

As part of the 2024 Project Involve program, Josh Olaoluwa, the only international fellow amongst his peers, is the recipient of Global Media Makers, “an exchange program sponsored through a partnership between Film Independent and the U.S. Dept. of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.”

“Project Involve remains the premier program for building a community of gifted and diverse artists,” says Project Involve Associate Director Francisco Velasquez in a statement on their website.

Project Involve alumni include Lulu Wang (The Farewell), Effie T. Brown (The Inspection), Jon M. Chu (Crazy Rich Asians) and Justin Simien (Dear White People).

Film Independent, a non-profit arts organization that champions the independent filmmaker, is known for the Spirit Awards, where Nigerian filmmaker C.J. ‘Fiery’ Obasi bagged a nomination for Mami Wata in the Best International Film category ahead of the 2024 award ceremony.

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