Nominees in the 28 categories of the Africa Movie Academy Awards (AMAA), the annual pan-African reward system for motion picture practitioners, will hold in Lagos on Sunday, May 15, the organisers have announced.
Chairman of the AMAA Jury, Mr. Shaibu Husseini, disclosed in a statement on Thursday that the nominees will be unveiled at a strictly media event at the Protea Hotel, Isaac John, GRA Ikeja.
It will be a departure from the usual practice of announcing the nominees at a gala ceremony.
“In the last eight years the nominees have been announced at events outside Nigeria and the last year being at JW Marriot Hotel, Los Angeles, United States. We are having both the nominees’ event and the main awards in Nigeria this year. We look forward to a very grand award in Port Harcourt, Rivers State in June,” said the AMAA 2015 Jury Head.
According to Mr. Husseini, features films, documentaries, animations and short films were submitted by filmmakers within Africa and the Diaspora for the awards which is in its 12th editions.
“Only 25 feature films will make it into nomination stage. The 25 made it to the final stages of AMAA selection out of the over 280 feature films received this year from over 25 African countries including Nigeria, Cape Verde, Gambia, Morocco, Uganda, Togo, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Cameroun, Mali, Ethiopia, Niger, Kenya, Algeria and Egypt.
“Also 15 short films (Africa and Diaspora) made it to the final stages but unfortunately only 8 of the African documentary films will make it to nomination and three Diaspora short films,” Husseini said.
The Board of Jurors of AMAA which members include academics, filmmakers, critics and film festival curators from Nigeria, Germany, United States, Zimbabwe, Jamaica and Burkina Faso will decide which films and individual talents will make the nominations and also become eventual winners.
The award has four stages of pre-screening process before the College of Screeners who makes the final works that will go to the Board of Jurors.
“We are very happy about the quality of works that came into the competition this year and it gladdens our heart that every year the objectives of the awards are being achieved with filmmakers in Africa and beyond upping their game,” added Husseini.
