Malawi leader JB to grace Africa Movie Awards nominations
Malawian President Joyce Banda will on 15th March be guest of honour at the Africa Movie Academy Awards (AMAA) nominations night to be hosted in Malawi’s capital city Lilongwe.
The AMAA nominations, expected to bring together film makers and celebrities from different parts of Africa, are slated to take place at the Bingu International Conference Centre.
“Come March 15th 2013, the President of Republic of Malawi, Her Excellency Joyce Banda will host film makers and celebrities from different parts of Africa during the nominations event that will be hosted by Malawi,” a statement from AMAA organisers and made available to Nyasa Times says.
To run from March 14th-17th the AMAA nomination will also attract the business community, the political class in Malawi, as well as the country’s own celebrities.
Next Friday, a day to the nominations night, there will be a pre-nomination concert to feature Nigeria’s Afro music outfit P-Square who will perform at Lilongwe Golf Club alongside Malawi’s own musicians Piksy, Maskal, Sally Nyundo and Fortress.
In the statement, AMAA’s director of administration Tony Anih says the government and people of Malawi are very excited with the prospect of having movie icons and other players in the motion picture industry coming to the country for the nominations event.
Anih further states the reason why this year the organisation decided to come to Malawi, indicating it was “because of the level of popularity and acceptability of African films, most especially Nollywood and Gollywood movies in Malawi”.
“AMAA is a continental brand and reward system for motion picture practitioners. While the award ceremony usually takes place in Nigeria we always move the nominations event from country to country.
“It is our way to promoting the Africaness of the award and also celebrates our culture and diversity. In the last six years AMAA has deliberately moved the nomination events from one country to the other within the continent,” adds Anih as he reveals that previously the nominations have been held Burkina Faso, Gambia, Kenya, Ghana and South Africa.
AMAA nominations is an event where films that make it into the 25 categories of the awards are announced ahead of the main award ceremony which is billed to hold in April this year.
Currently, AMAA is holding the Film in a Box project targeted at the young men and women of Malawi who are interested in making a career in any aspect of film making. The course started on Thursday at Crossroads Hotel in Lilongwe.
According to the list made available to the media by Shuaib Hussein, a member of the awards jury and chairman of the College of Screeners, a total of 671 films have been submitted for AMAA this year, compared to average of 300 plus that were entered in previous editions.
“This year is a milestone for AMAA as the award will hold its 10th edition and surprisingly the French speaking African countries have finally embraced the award as the best and biggest in Africa. I want to give kudos to the promoters of this award for the commitment and dedication,” Hussein is quoted as saying in the statement.
AMAA is presented annually to recognize excellence in the African film industry, rewarding directors, actors, and writers. The awards are aimed at honouring and promoting excellence in the African movie industry as well as uniting the African continent through arts and culture.
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