A group of kids in Africa who call themselves critics are making incredible shorts and grabbing Hollywood’s attention

A group of young independent directors in Kaduna, Northern Nigeria who call themselves “The Critics” has caught the attention of some Hollywood actors, and for good reason. The group, a crew of nine, is between the ages of 7 and 27 and are mostly siblings and cousins. They are huge movie fans themselves and decided to try making a movie using phones as cameras and building their own green screens to accomplish the kind of action they had seen in their favorite movies.

They are self-taught and use Wikipedia and YouTube tutorials along the way. Over the past few years, they’ve released several movies on their YouTube channel, which you can see here, and I’ll include a great one below.

Once their movies came out, they got a response from some Hollywood names they were excited about. Raymond Yusuff, 18, visual effects artist and editor of the group, told CNN:

“Franklin Leonard sent us a message on Twitter and said ‘First of all, you’re doing a good job.’ He told us that he found our videos and that he was friends with JJ Abrams and a couple of people in Hollywood. He told us to send a list on WhatsApp of the equipment we might need for our films. ” .

Last August, the boys received a large load of equipment, including high-end gaming PCs, monitors, cameras, and stabilizers from Abrams and Leonard. “We were so excited, so happy about it,” Yusuff said.

In an interview with the Hollywood Reporter in September, Abrams said he was delighted to be introduced to The Critics Company by Leonard, adding that the young filmmakers had talent and determination. “Providing them with additional equipment just meant adding fuel to their fantastic fire,” he said.

They are truly incredibly talented and ambitious, and I can’t wait to see how far they go. Check out the fan favorite video “Another Star Wars Story” below and stay tuned to find out more about their upcoming short, “Tomorrow’s War”, which will be released on their YouTube channel later this month.