The hall was packed full of movie makers, lovers, actors, actresses from different parts of the continent and the Diaspora. It was the ninth edition of the Africa Movie Academy Awards (AMAA), otherwise called ‘Africa’s Oscars.’ The event which began earlier than anticipated was witnessed last Saturday by the crème de la crème of the Nigerian movie industry at the Gloryland Centre, Yenogoa, Bayelsa State.
Therefore, it is not a surprise that year 2013 witnessed a greater number of entries from within and outside Nigeria. Six hundred and seventy-one entries were received out of which 348 were feature films.
The dance and music performance of AMAA’s theme for this year, ‘Africa One’ heralded the awards night. The event kicked off fully when the comedian, Ayo Makun, popularly called AY, rode to stage on a power bike. As usual, he did not fail to make the audience laughter with his jokes about Nollywood and roles played by popular Nollywood stars like Ramsey Nouah, Jim Iyke, Omotola Jolade-Ekeinde, Genevieve Nnaji, Osita Iyeme, among others. Although AY’s performance was dramatic and comical, yet they were unnecessary winding, which unnecessarily dragged the award night.
It was also a night of speeches from government functionaries who graced the event. In his welcome address, Seriake Dickson, the chief host and governor, Bayelsa State, said beyond the glamour of AMAA, “the event is to remind everyone that AMAA is a brand for tourism.
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“In addition to oil and gas, tourism is another platform to grow the state’s economy. We are constructing a world-class tourism city with the state-of-the-art facility. We will complete the project this year. We are already building an airport. We are building manpower in the tourism industry. We are undertaking a review of tourist sites and they are all already being upgraded.”
On his part, President Goodluck Jonathan who was represented by Edem Duke, minister for culture, tourism and national orientation, enjoined Nollywood practitioners to continually use their endowed creativity to tell the African story.
“It is my hope that the winners and nominees will see themselves as champions of our culture. We are establishing an underwater project and my ministry has donated N25 million to the project,” he said.
The night’s performances by the South African jazz group and a Malawian musician changed the course of the event totally. Their performances were interactive as some members of the group left the stage to the VIP area to help some of them to try their feet on the popular South African jazz tune. Also, the local comedians who performed that night did not let the audience down as they were unbelievably hilarious and original with their jokes.
Timi Dakolo’s outing was a sell out. His freedom track got nearly members of the audience on their feet, as indigenes showed solidarity to one of their own.
Eventually, the moment everyone had eagerly awaited arrived. The winners of the awards were announced. Confusion Na Wa emerged the best film, while best director prize went to Niji Akanni for the film Heroes and Zeroes. Best actress in leading role was Florence Masebe, for her role in Elelwani, while best actor in leading role was late Justus Esiri, for his role in Assassins Practice.
