It has emerged that the South African government will host this year’s edition of the prestigious Africa Movie Academy Awards (AMAA), just as the continental awards body for film partners Facebook.
This was made known when AMAA, which has promoted the film industry in Africa in the last 11 years, hosted Corporate Nigeria and other business leaders on Saturday, August 8. The event took place at the Oriental Hotel in Lagos and featured business leaders and professionals in the entertainment industry covering Nollywood, music, comedy and fashion.
Founder of AMAA, Peace Anyiam-Osigwe, who is now the President of Africa Film Academy (AFA), took the guests on a historical excursion into the history of pan-African reward body and how it has served as a platform to showcase the best in the industry to the rest of the world.
“We have invited you here to tell you about our plans for the future and seek your support to help us in our determination to make the creative industry a major contributor to African economy,” she said.
She went on to explain that there is need for the private sector and government to continue to support and invest in the creative industry.
“We are here this evening to let you know the way you can support us as the government of South Africa hosts this year’s AMAA in Port Elizabeth, the home of the legends,” she stated.
She used the evening to announce the partnership deal between Facebook and AMAA and how the working relationship with the social media business will boost creative enterprise, brand visibility for sponsors and increase revenue for content owners.
The partnership will drive digital impact in film and entertainment with over 1.4 billion users, 120 million of who are in Africa.
“Facebook’s partnership with us is a commercial and cultural one leveraging our platform which covers film and the whole entertainment sector and the Facebook global platform. This will give an unprecedented opportunity for brands to engage with millions of African movie fans as well as Africa’s filmmaking community leveraging the digital reach of the world’s most pervasive social network,” said the AMAA founder.
The organisation also unveiled the AfricaOne initiative targeted at bringing together all contributors to the African creative industry, on the same platform. Fundamentally, the idea of AfricaOne is to create an avenue for the realisation of the pan-African dream using Africa’s creative industry, according to Anyiam-Osigwe.
