The African Movie Academy Awards took place on the 15th of July to a better critical response than it had the previous year. The 2016 show was nothing to write about. It received criticism all round for its production quality, and its presenters. This year, the show runners made good use of the criticism from last year to give us a better experience.
Here are four reasons we loved this year’s show.
4. AMAA has an attentive Jury: Felicite was the biggest winner of the night. The film is a Senegalese film and It tells a story about Congolese bar singer who is in a race against time to save her teenage son. Felicite was not the only film that proved that the AMAA was not only about popular films but art, the animated film Got Flowerswon best animation, the film is directed by young filmmaker Jibril Mailafia, who has also worked on The Throne and proves to be a blazing filmmaker with the animated genre. His style is alluring, it feels really good to see the AMAA’ stake note of his work.
3. Picture Quality was great: Last year the AMAA’s was hosted by three actors, including Chris Attoh and Mike Ezurounye, it showed live on NTA and was produced in Port-Harcourt. For some reasons, the AMAA looked dull and was in need of a revamp. I almost gave up on the award show. There was also a painful low turnout of the nominated actors, despite the wild publicity for the show. This year, everything was overturned. The producers came prepared to win and the won. There was a huge turnout of stars, and the picture quality was better than last years. The show was really good this year, and we predict it gets even better next year.
2. More support from practitioners: Mo Abudu, Ramsey Noah, Kunle Afolayan, Stephanie Linus, and a host of amazing stars were in attendance at the AMAA’s 2017. The turnout was not only great but there was a better reception of the show this year. Many filmmakers that were nominated were at least available this year. Akin Omotosho was around to receive his ward for Vaya. Akin is one of the directors we really want to see return to work in Nollywood. He directed Ebony Life’s “Fifty the series” but there are many reasons we want to see Akin stationed here.
1.It represents Africa, not just Nigeria: It is the same thing that the AMVCA’s promise but it has been focused solely on Nigeria. We get introduced to the most popular films across Africa, they get nominated but Nigerian films take the price. This has caused quite the criticism but the AMAA Is here to prove that they pay attention to films that are not only made by Nigerians. It lived up to the name. It was the night for Senegal, where filmmakers won in seven categories and losing in only four categories. We love the exploration of African films, we love new stories that allow us to explore a new terrain, a new environment and we are glad the AMAA brought these movies to our attention.
