Guardian

THE unification of the African continent through is being made possible by the African Movie Academy Awards, AMAA. Ironically, while other countries celebrate their movie people over AMAA, the Nigerian government has never even congratulated Nigerian actors who have remained the real ambassadors of the country.

This much was revealed by Peace Anyiam-Osigwe, the CEO of AMAA in an exclusive interview with The Guardian at Ikeja, Lagos last Saturday. She spoke on the gains, challenges and future of AMAA. Nine years after, Anyiam Osigwe explained that it has not been easy as she has been able to carry the awards all alone with the kind of sponsorship AMAA requires.

Her words: “It has been a tug of war. It is unfortunate because the mentality here is that sponsorships are easier for foreigners than for local projects. It is not funny at all as Nigerian brands are not getting required sponsorship that they deserve to pull these projects through. When we started AMAA, the idea is that of a reward system that will graduate into our plan, but by the fourth year it peaked. And before you know it, AMAA has taken a life that was bigger than we anticipated.”

She further stressed that the credibility of AMAA has peaked as members of jury are men of integrity from notable film festivals a across the world.

“So when people talk about influencing the outcome, I only laugh because I don’t even know winners until they are being announced. If people observed very well, Shaibu Husseini who is a member of the jury and chair of the selection committee who came in late into the hall on the day of the event because the jury meeting lasted till late and they had to prepare the winning list. Shaibu was at that when the event started and when he came, the head juror, June Givanni, went through to ensure that it was as the jury agreed. That was the level of carefulness that goes into the final selection,’’ she further hinted.

AMAA nomination process, she stressed, is not an easy task as entries for the award keep increasing yearly. Last year, over 300 films were entered for the award, but this year the AMAA CEO disclosed that the secretariat received 674 films. Even the categories have increased from 20 to 26 with the creation of the diaspora categories. Her words: “We started with getting as low as 100 films to 200 films but by the fourth year, AMAA peaked, gained continental acceptance and the entries came pouring in. By this year, we received over 600 films and as I speak with you, AMAA receives entries from 54 African countries. We have also expanded in terms of administration. From just an office here and in South Africa, AMAA  at present has functional offices in Ghana, Kenya and Malawi. We can also be easily reached in Mozambique, Egypt. So we will keep expanding and we will keep rotating our nomination events. We had the last one in Malawi and we have staged nomination events in South Africa, Burkina Faso and in Ghana.”

She further revealed that much of the funding for AMAA goes into “flying in nominees and guest first to Lagos and then to Bayelsa who are always willing to play host to the AMAA’s.” Because we don’t have a say as to those that get nominated, we are obliged to fly in nominees according to the nomination list provided by the jury. So, if 10 people are nominated from the US for instance, we are obliged to fly them in for the awards. This year, flight alone gulped $500,000, just as we were only able to secure 200 tickets for each of the two airlines that were made available for guests’’.

Peace Osigwe’s is unhappy that government has failed to celebrate Nigerian thespians: “While South Africa and other countries are celebrating winners of AMAA as worthy ambassadors, Nigerians who have continued to make the country proud are not even being mentioned not to talk of being celebrated by their own country.”

She cited the AMAA 2013 best film Confusion Na Wah by Kenneth Gyang and two films –Figurine and Irapada by Kunle Afolayan that have won the AMAA top prize and that have gone ahead to be invited to festivals around the world.

With all these obstacles, why so much interest in films, when she can be making money and name as a writer, lawyer or a businesswoman. Her words: “I am a content person. I make my money from other businesses and put them into AMAA. From 2014 you will see a new Chief Operating Officer to see AMAA through. My interest on films and the need to unite African filmmakers is my own way of encouraging them because Nigerian filmmakers actually put us on the map. They need to be encouraged. The gain has been our ability to establish a good platform for Africa filmmakers, while the challenge is to maintain the network and trying to fight the negative influence of the Anglophone and Francophone (conflict) that has split Africa unfortunately. A situation whereby you have to pay more on a flight from Mali to Nigeria than someone flying in from America.”

She said that the future of AMAA is very bright. “At 10 (in 2014) we expect more support from government and the corporate world, and see the brand grow bigger. I want to say a big thank you to Shehu Dantata for his efforts. My gratitude also goes to Bayelsa State Government for their untiring supports. We have embarked on the training of filmmakers across the continent. So far, we have trained 300 in Malawi, 270 in Bayelsa and many more across the continent will benefit from this programme as we march into the future,” she enthused.