Faraday Okoro has a story to tell. And AT&T just awarded him $1 million to help tell that story.

Faraday is the first-ever $1 million grant recipient from AT&T Presents: Untold Stories. An Inclusive Film Program in Collaboration with Tribeca, along with the year-round nonprofit Tribeca Film Institute.

Faraday impressed the Untold Stories greenlight committee, comprised of industry leaders and film experts, with his vision for his project Nigerian Prince at this morning’s Facebook Live pitch event in New York City. The committee heard pitches from 5 finalists, deliberated and named Faraday as the winner. Faraday’s win was announced at a luncheon today celebrating inclusivity in storytelling, as well as all 5 of the filmmakers selected for the program.

What’s next? Faraday will now use the next year to create or finish his film. It’s a story about a stubborn Nigerian-American teenager who after being sent to Nigeria against his will, joins forces with an internet scammer, in order to return to the United States.

AT&T and Tribeca will also help him with awards submissions, qualifying screenings, ads and promoting his film.

Faraday’s film will premiere at next year’s Tribeca Film Festival and will run across several AT&T video platforms, including DIRECTV Now.

AT&T will give the other 4 participating filmmakers $10,000 each to achieve their film goals.

Congratulations, Faraday. We can’t wait to see your film’s premiere at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival!

The Tribeca Film Festival, presented by AT&T, runs April 19-30, 2017.  For more information, and all festival updates, download the official Tribeca Film Festival mobile app through iTunes, Google Play, or your app store today. Check back here and follow us on Twitter @att for more information on all of our activities at the 2017 Festival.  

Faraday Okoro 

Bio: Faraday is a New York City based Nigerian-American filmmaker. He attended Howard University and NYU Graduate Film School. Faraday’s films have screened in numerous film festivals worldwide, including Tribeca, LA Film Festival, and the Palms Springs International Shortsfest. In 2016, Faraday was included in MoiveMaker Magazine’s 25 Screenwriters to Watch.