AS African Movie Academy Awards celebrates its 10th edition this
year there is an unprecedented upsurge in the number of films that have
been submitted by film markers across Africa and in the Diaspora, with
the Francophone African countries leading the pack.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. It is a lot of hard work to really get the French speaking countries to believe in AMAA.
“Before now, we usually got films from more than two to three francophone countries, but this year, it is a clean sweep. We have entries from Togo, Congo, Cote D’voire, Mali, Niger Republic, Benin Republic, Guinea, Senegal and Cameroun. We are happy about this development. The promoters of AMAA have ensured that the integrity of the award remain unassailable and this account for the level of huge participation across Africa and the Diaspora,’’ he noted.
Hussein, a notable movie critic also revealed that filmmakers from South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Gambia, Zimbabwe and Sudan also entered their films for the most prestigious reward system for motion picture industry in Africa.
“From Diaspora filmmakers, we received entries from United States, Brazil, Singapore, UK, Trinidad & Tobago and Jamaica. This is a fitting way to celebrate the 10th edition of AMAA,’’ he said.
Giving the breakdown of the entries, the chairman of the College of Screeners said 184 short films, 108 Diaspora features - documentaries and shorts films, 60 documentaries from Africa and 319 feature films from within and outside Africa, including films made by Africans living abroad, were received.
On how far the screeners have gone with the process, Hussein informed that his team started full camp on February 25 in Banjul, capital of Gambia. The 15-member screening body has members from Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa, Senegal, Cameroun, Benin Republic, Mali, Burkina Faso and Togo.
“Before the camping stage, which has started in Gambia, all the films have been pre-selected by members of the academy’s pre-selectors scattered all around Africa. At the pre-camp stage, films are pruned down and films weeded out were those that do not meet entry rules such as films that are more than 2 hours long; films that are inconclusive, language films or films in vernacular that are not subtitled and films that are generally of poor quality,’’ he said.
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