How Nollywood stormed
Abuja for AMAA
By AZUH AMATUS
Friday, May 02, 2008
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•Two
Ghanaian awardees
Pix: Sun News Publishing |
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Neither the downpour nor the sudden change of venue by the
organisers of this year’s African Movie Academy Awards
(AMAA) could prevent movie practitioners, stakeholders and
the glitterati from gracing the grand ceremony.
Although billed for Yenogoa, Bayelsa State, which had hosted
AMAA since inception four years ago, the yearly awards ceremony
was finally moved to Abuja, at the last minute, due to the
current political instability in the state.The high brow Congress
Hall of the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja hosted this year’s
awards, with an influx of Nollywood stars and dignitaries
from both public and private sectors.
However, the night of glamour and panache, which had Nollywood
and African filmmakers jostling for awards in 25 categories
opened with the introduction of Osita Iheme and Chinedu Ikedieze
(Aki & Pawpaw) as the first set of anchors. But the event
lasted till the wee hours of the following morning.
Despite the fact that a Ghanaian movie, Run Baby Run, carted
home four key awards in the categories of Best Picture, Director,
Screenplay and Child Actor, Nollywood retained two of the
most important awards. Star actor Nkem Owoh, and actress Kate
Henshaw-Nuttal smiled home respectively with the diadems of
the Best Actor and Best Actress, for their excellent and uncommon
roles in Stronger Than Pain.
Another revelation on the night of stars, which was chaired
by the FCT Minister, Aliyu Modibbo, was the presence of top
Hollywood Star Angela Bassett. The pretty star of the classic
movie – How Stella Got Her Groove Back was grateful
to AMAA and Nollywood for always telling African stories in
their movies.
While Bassett, got a rousing ovation after her wonderful speech.
White Waters, the Amstel Malta Box Office (AMBO) movie from
the stable of Nigerian Breweries Plc, also carted home four
awards in the categories of Best Soundtrack, Cinematography,
Upcoming Actor (O.C Ukeje / Hoomsuk) and Actress in a supporting
role (Joke Silva).
Surprisingly too, fast selling Nollywood movie shot on 35mm,
Mirror of Beauty, from the stable of Atlantic Overseas floored
other flicks to win in the category of Best Music Score. Also,
Mission To Nowhere, another movie directed by Teco Benson,
emerged victorious in the Best Upcoming Actress category.
The trophy went to Uju Okeke, for her exploits in the historic
35mm movie.
Meanwhile, in the second segment of the awards, which was
anchored by the duo of Stephanie Okereke and Ramsey Noah,
foremost Nollywood filmmaker – Kingsley Eloho Ogoro-
walked away with two diadems. Ogoro’s Across the Niger,
which preaches peace and love won in the categories of Special
Effect and Heart of Africa. Another Ghanaian movie Princess
Tyra, further increased the winning slot for the West African
country with two more diadems. They were in the categories
of Best Costume and Make Up.
The awards for the most outstanding actress –Indigenous,
went to Doris Simon, for her efforts in Onitemi, while that
of the male category was clinched by Ayo Akinwale, for his
outstanding performance in Iranse Aje.
Divizions, another foreign movie from Uganda won in the Best
Editing category. Also, the awards for the Best Documentary
and Best Short Documentary went to, Do you believe in Magic?
and Not My Daughter (Ghana) respectively. Iranse Aje won the
keenly contested prize for best Nigerian film, while that
of the best Art Direction went to New Jerusalem.
And for his outstanding role in Checkpoint, pioneer actor
Emeka Ossai, smiled home with the diadem of the best Actor
in a supporting role. Above-all, two Nigerian tested thespians
– Chike Okpala (Zebrudaya), Jide Kosoko and a Ugandan
film maker were decorated with the Lifetime Achievement Awards,
for their immense contributions to the development and sustenance
of the motion picture industry on the continent.
Interestingly, it was not only awards and plaques that were
given out during this year’s AMAA, guests were also
entertained with good music, comedy and other side attractions.
Basorge Terriah, grand master of comedy in Nigeria electrified
the spacious hall with his rich repertoire of jokes and jibes
for close to 30 minutes. Klint D’ Drunk too came on
stage to thrill the guests.
However, the intermittent performances by popular musicians
P-Square, Timaya and Timi Dakolo, further added verve to the
night of stars.
In her welcome address, Peace Anyiam Osigwe, the CEO of AMAA,
thanked all for coming. She was particularly grateful to UBA
and the Bayelsa State Government, for making the event a reality
despite initial setbacks. “ Our dream is to make AMAA,
a truly pan-African awards and that we are already working
towards…”
A total of 304 movies were submitted for this year’s
edition, across the African continent and 191 of them were
from Nigeria, according to Dr. Hyginus Ekwuazi, the head of
Jury, while giving his verdict. Also an art exhibition which,
showcased works of different artists, under the theme; Our
Culture, Our Heritage, preceded this year’s event. It
held for two days at the same venue.
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