M-Net Africa Director for Special Projects, Biola Alabi, has given the assurance that the organisers of the Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards (AMVCA) have not closed their doors to African indigenous language filmmakers whose movies are not presented in Swahili, Yoruba or Hausa.
The Swahili language or Kiswahili, according to Wikipedia, is the mother tongue of the Swahili people and it is spoken by various communities in the African Great Lakes region and other parts of south-east Africa, including Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Mozambique and the Democratic Republic of Congo. It is one of the official languages of the African Union.
Yoruba is one of the four official languages of Nigeria and is a member of the Volta-Niger branch of the Niger-Congo family of languages. It is spoken by people in south-western Nigeria, Benin and Togo.
The third language, Hausa, is spoken by the Hausa people found mostly in Niger, Nigeria and Chad. It is also widely spoken in many West African states including Ghana, Benin, Cameroun, Togo, Cote d’Ivoire; parts of Central Africa and north-western Sudan.
Movies presented in these three indigenous languages were the only ones recognised at the AMVCA, held on Saturday, March 8 at the Eko Hotel in Lagos, Nigeria.
Some Ghanaian movie makers, who produce their works in the Akan language, which is widely spoken in Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire have questioned why it was not included in the indigenous language category.
Ms Alabi explained in an interview with The Mirror that the AMVCA, which is in its second year, had just started and was still evolving, so the language category, like all other categories, could be redefined if the need arose.
She cited the Academy Awards, commonly known as The Oscars, which began in 1929 and has since rolled out 86 events as an example and said, “The AMVCA is a journey and not a destination”.
She therefore encouraged independent movie producers to continue to submit their works for honours in the coming years, adding that Africa Magic will continue to engage with the independent movie producers and the media to improve the movie industry in Africa.
She also stressed that: “We have no plans to stop organising the event”.
Meanwhile, the biggest winners at the 2014 AMVCA were the movies, Contract and Nairobi Half Life, which scooped no less than four accolades each.
Contract won for Best Movie Director (Shirley Frimpong-Manso); Best Movie (Shirley Frimpong Manso, Yvonne Okoro and Ken Attoh); Best Video Editor (Shirley Frimpong-Manso); and Best Writer (Shirley Frimpong-Manso and Hertey Owusu).
Nairobi Half Life took home awards for Best Lighting Designer (Mohamed Zain), Best Art Director (Barbara Minishi), Best Cinematographer (Christian Almesberger) and Best Make-Up Artist (Elayne Okaya).
Other notable winners included the first-ever AMVCA honours for Best New Media – Online Video, heralding the arrival of a new generation of African storytellers.
Walking away with that coveted prize was the movie, Mother Tongue, by Amarachukwu Onoh.
This year also marked the first ever AMVCA win for Best Documentary which went to The Deadwood by Dr Gilbert Chigbo, which impressed the judges for its imagery, technological standards and narrative structure.
Broadcast live from Lagos to 50 African countries on DStv and GOtv, the second ever AMVCAs gave out 29 awards in 27 categories, verified by the auditing firm of SizweNtsalubaGobodo.
Source: The Mirror