BOKISSONTHRONE: AMAA@10: Celebrating Africa’s finest

Africa’s finest producers and artistes converged on Yenagoa, Bayelsa State for the glamorous 10th edition of the African Movie Academy Awards last weekend.

THAT South African film noir, ‘Of Good Report’ excelled at the 10th African Movie Academy Awards (AMAA) held last weekend in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State did not come as a surprise to movie buffs.

Apart from the fact that it had the highest number of nominations (13), its antecedent at international film festivals and awards it had previously won all indicated that it was going to carry the day at Yenagoa.

Expectedly, it did, winning five major prizes including the Best Film, Best Screen play, Best Director, Best Young Promising Actor and Best Actor.

About a high school teacher who becomes obsessed with a 16-year-old female student, the film created a buzz both in South Africa and internationally with some critics hailing its brilliance while others condemned its dark nature.

But apart from Jahmil X.T. Qubeka’s third feature film, three other South African movies, ‘The Forgotten Kingdom’, ‘Khumba’ and ‘Felix’ also registered their presence on the winners list. ‘The Forgotten Kingdom’ won the Achievement in Cinematography and Achievement in Sound prizes, ‘Khumba’ took Best Animation and Thapelo Mofekeng won the Best Actor in a Supporting Role for ‘Felix’.

Similarly, female Ghanaian producers, Leila Djansi and Shirley Frimpong Manso did not go home empty handed. Manso’s ‘Potomanto’ won the AMAA Achievement in Editing while Djansi’s ‘Northern Affair’ won the Achievement in Production Design prize.

Nigeria’s showing at the ceremony was somehow reminiscent of 2009 when the country’s movies trailed Kenyan film ‘From a Whisper’. But there were some bright spots for the country this time around as Clarion Chukwura won Best Actress for her role in ‘Apaye’, Patience Ozokwor won Best Supporting Actress with ‘After The Proposal’ and ‘A Mile From Home’ won the Achievement in Visual Effects award.

Chika Anadu’s ‘B For Boy’ won Best Film for Women Empowerment, Obi Emenloye’s Igbo film, ‘Onye Ozi’ won in the Achievement in Soundtrack category while Bob Manuel-Udokwu was given a Recognition Award.

Giddy entertainment
Happily though, African cinema and filmmakers, whose promotion AMAA had declared from inception was its primary goal, were the biggest winners on the night. They all had their recognitions at the glamorous event which also didn’t lack for entertainment.

Though Congolese star, Fally Ipupa, failed to attend, nobody really missed him as the Nigerian artistes on the bill gave good account of themselves. Timi Dakolo, Keshe, Bez Idakula, J.Martins and Flavour as well as comedians like Aproko, Funny Bone and Geebonz all entertained. The only downside was that with the exception of Bez, all the other artistes sang along to their CDs, thereby failing to justify organisers’ investment in having Kingsley Ogoro deploy state of the art equipment.

Fittingly, the late filmmaker, Amaka Igwe, was remembered at the awards ceremony with two standing ovations and a eulogy. When AMAA founder, Ms. Peace Anyiam-Osigwe first came out to ask guests to observe a one minute silence for the departed filmmaker; she ended up reciting an ode in praise of Igwe. Later, one of the presenters of the show and former Actors Guild of Nigeria president, Segun Arinze, asked the guests to observe a minute silence for the late filmmaker.

Truce at last?
Another side attraction at the ceremony was how incumbent AGN president, Ibinabo Fiberesima and Best Actress winner, Clarion Chukwura made peace. The duo had been at loggerheads since Chukwura criticized Fiberesima’s leadership of the AGN and there had been a lot of back and forth between them. Interestingly, in the course of Chukwura’s acceptance speech where she called for peace in Nollywood, Fiberisima was caught by the television cameras nodding assent. As if to prove the authenticity of the truce, a photograph of the duo smiling happily into the camera later surfaced on social media.

Growth and improvement
Speeches, a permanent feature of AMAA nights, weren’t missing from this year’s edition. Director General, Bayelsa State Tourism Board, Ebizi Ndioma-Brown, acknowledged the impact of AMAA on Bayelsa youths, noting that it has kept them away from deviant activities. She disclosed that some Bayelsa youths are now actors, actresses and directors and there is a huge request to help many more produce their films. “We have a lot of youths that wants to be useful and there has been a lot of training available to them as a result of AMAA’s presence in Bayelsa,” Ndioma-Brown said.

Deputy Governor of Bayelsa, Gboribiogha John Jonah, who represented his principal, Seriake Dickson, said the state continues to be associated with AMAA because of its positive impacts on its economy. “We are associated to AMAA because of its benefits to our economy and the movie industry. It celebrates excellence in film industry and serve as a springboard to show case the rich heritage and investment opportunities of the state,” Jonah said.

He added that Bayelsa State aims for the growth of the youth, enlargement of its cultural heritage and capacity building and that Nollywood is one of the platforms to achieve this. “We will continue to encourage Bayelsa youths to become role models and an association like this will lead to job creation and life meaningful to the youths and the government will continue to be a part of this symbiotic collaboration,” he said.

In her very passionate speech at the ceremony, Anyiam-Osigwe expressed happiness at AMAA’s survival in spite of challenges: “The AMAAs has survived against all odds, and those who have been closely associated with AMAAs will bear testimonies to the struggles that we have been through to come this far. As at date, the main challenges of funding and financing subsist.”

She also expressed happiness at the impact of the awards, noting that AMAA has become a platform that projects Africa’s film industry to Africa and the rest of the world. Reaching the 10th anniversary, she added is a testimony to the resilience of human spirit and determination.

“It has been a journey of sheer determination, perseverance, staying power and faith. These characteristics have been the driving force behind the organization of the AMAAs. In spite of the many challenges in preparation and spending, putting spanners in the works with respect to management of logistics and overall delivery of events, the AMAAs is still standing 10 years on,” she said.

What will Peace do next?
The AMAA founder also seized the opportunity to inform guests of her next step. She stepped down as the chief executive officer of the awards as she had disclosed earlier in the year and disclosed that she would focus on growing grass root cinema across Africa. This, she said, had already started in Uganda and Kenya with her partner from 234 Media. “For the last 10 years I have done the show, now I am going to focus on the business,” she said but failed to name a successor into her position.

Special guest and Hollywood actor, Danny Glover, also lauded the growth of AMAA, adding that there have been significant changes in the last 10 years in Bayelsa.

Though the main awards ceremony in Yenagoa is over, organizers later disclosed that activities for the 10th anniversary will continue throughout the year. The People’s Choice Award and the Media Recognition Award will happen later in the year.

Full list of winners:

Best Short Film – Dialemi

Best Animation – Khumba (South Africa)

Best Documentary – Hamu Beya (Mali) & Portraits of a Lone Farmer (Nigeria & Denmark)

Best Film (African Language) – B for Boy

Best Diaspora Short Film – Passage

Best Diaspora Documentary – Through The Lens Darkly (USA)

Best Diaspora Feature – Kingston Paradise (Jamaica)

Achievement In Production Design Award – Northern Affair (Ghana)

Achievement In Costume Design – Ni Sisi (Kenya)

Achievement In Make-up – Once Upon A Road Trip (South Africa)

Achievement in Soundtrack – Onye Ozi (Nigeria/UK)