History has quickly repeated itself in the Best Actress category of the Africa Movie Academy Awards (AMAA) announced last week at a gala in Los Angeles, United States of America (U.S.A.) with Ini Edo and Jocelyn Dumas.
The two actresses, like in 2014, have been nominated in the same Best Actress in a Leading Role category. While Nigerian Ini Edo is nominated for While You Slept, Jocelyn Dumas from Ghana got on the list for Silverain. Other contenders are: Lesliana Pereira (NJINGA: Queen of Angola), Queen Nwokoye (Cheetenah) and Aida Wang (Juliet and Romeo).
The AMAA jury chaired by the Zimbabwean, Keith Shiri, announced the nominees for the 28 categories of the continental awards for motion picture practitioners in Africa and the Diaspora.
Nigeria, South Africa, Ethiopia, Angola and Mauritius lead the pack in the number of films from the countries in competition, while United States led for films from Africans in the Diaspora.
Films by Nigerian filmmakers such as October 1, Cheetanah, Iyore and Dazzling Mirage are very prominent on the list, while Triangle Going to America from Ethiopia, Timbuktu from Mauritius and Queen of Angola from Angola are very strong in various categories of the award.
Two new revelations in the Most Promising Actor/Actress category are Demola Adedoyin for his role in Kunle Afolayan’s October 1 and Kemi Lala Akindoju for her role in Tunde Kelani’s Dazzling Mirage.
At a ceremony attended by the cream of top Hollywood filmmakers and their Nigerian counterparts, the chairman of the College of Screeners and member of the jury, Shaibu Husseini, noted the improvement in the quality of films coming to AMAA every year since inception 11 years ago.
“It is gratifying to note that filmmakers from the continent and beyond are investing more into their trade, and the evidence of their investments are the quality films we see, though there will always be room for improvement,” said Husseini, while giving details of the nominations.
Some of the Nollywood practitioners who attended the event and their African counterparts include Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde, Faithia Balogun, O.C Ukeje, Patience Uzokwor, Kingsley Ogoro, Paul Okoli, Chioma Chukwuka, Kunle Afolayan, Emem Isong, Doris Simon, Eniola Badmus, Chinedu Ikedieze and Osita Iheme (popular as Aki and Paw Paw), as well as AMAA brand ambassador, Lydia Forson from Ghana.
The Chief Executive Officer of AMAA, Dayo Ogunyemi, said the leadership of the award body decided to take the nominations event to Hollywood this year to begin the concrete step of taking African cinema to the home of global cinema, for a mutually and economically viable cooperation.
“A unique aspect of the nomination event this year is that AMAA’s parent organisation, the Africa Film Academy (whose advisory board Danny Glover co-chairs) is developing a slate of 10 films that will be co-productions between black filmmakers across the globe,” Ogunyemi explained.
The AMAA 2015 College of Screeners received over 800 entries from over 50 countries of the world within and outside Africa covering feature films, short films, animations and documentaries.
The AMAA award night will hold in South Africa in September, and it will be the first time the continental awards will take place outside Nigeria in its 11 years, having held 10 previous editions in the country.