A motley crowd of influential Nollywood
practitioners gathered in small groups, down at the Pool Bar at the Eko
Hotels and Suites just a few minutes after the 2016 Africa Magic Viewers Choice Awards
ended before 10 pm C.A.T. And as I mingled from one huddle to the
other, what one could pick out was a linear shock at some of the twists
the awards had thrown up earlier in the evening.
‘Ol’Boy, this award nor too pure this year’
said a top Nollywood Director to me pointedly as if he was a civil
servant making a minority report. I shrugged, deciding to be silent just
to hear opinions.
‘How on earth could a cooking show win
in a category where there were drama series? What the hell was that?
‘asked another Nollywood Producer in anger to even the winner of that
category who seemed undecided on what to say.
‘How can ‘small small’ kids in acting,
the up and comers be winning the big prizes in acting every year at the
AMVCAs consistently? Look am na! E nor pure! These guys just
nominate the big names alongside the new ones and then disgrace the old
and established actors by giving the awards to people we don’t even
know!’ said another established Producer, shaking his head in disbelief.
‘But it is a viewers choice awards’
proferred one of the recognised Jurors in this year’s award. ‘The
winners are chosen based on the number of votes they receive from the
viewers. That’s how it works. If the old acts go to sleep and expect
that their pedigree would win them the awards, then they have no one to
blame but themselves when those who worked hard to get votes come out
tops’
‘Like I said before, this award nor pure this year’ repeated the top Nollywood Director.
Whilst many established practitioners in
Nollywood and other sectors present that night had their own
reservations about the fairness of the awards in some categories, in
other gatherings, those who won in their various categories were all
smiles and busy getting hugs and handshakes as well wishers (or those
with daggers in their hearts too, who knows?) and friends celebrated
with them. There were beaming smiles and polite laughter all over the
grounds and as is wont in awards, everyone, no matter their differences
identifies with a winner.
Let’s rewind a bit to the beginning of the show so we can have an idea of how the sighs and songs came about.It’s become an annual tradition for me
to review the AMVCAs and this fourth edition held much promise for the
clear and undisputable fact that in just four years, with a gradual
sense of purpose and media might as well as huge injection of funds, the
AMVCAs is now arguably the biggest movie awards event in the continent.
And with that perception comes much expectations.
There was the pre-show red carpet event
as usual which had many of the guests and celebrities dressed by
interesting fashion designers. From my mental calculation at the event,
it is likely that nothing less than thirty million Naira worth of
clothes and accessories must have been made as income for the fashion
and make up industry just for this event. Knowing that the scrutiny of
the red carpet would be done by the nebulous fashion police we have
locally, I always skip the red carpet as much as I can and head straight
to the hall for the show every year.
With nominees, guests and celebrities
seated in the hall, the show kicked off on the dot by 7.00pm Nigerian
time with a performance by The Star Act Dance Company, a
troupe which had dancers costumed in an impressive combination of white
and gold sashes. The dancers put up a well choreographed piece which
was quite good. I would say this was the best opening sequence so far in
all the editions of the AMVCAs. Splendidly done.
IK Osakioduwa and Minnie Dlamini
then came onstage as the hosts for the night. Minnie’s attempt to show
that she has an understanding of Nigerians through the influence and
impact of Nollywood movies got her some applause when she greeted with
‘Igbo Kwenu’.
The Presentation of the awards began with Chris Attoh presenting the Best Art Director award to Frank Rajah
who seemed better prepared this year for his speech than his famous
‘Yvonne Nelson, I give you the glory’ stutter of the year before. Frank
won it for ‘Refugees’.
After a couple of award presentation by Ireti Doyle and Gideon Okeke, then Ozzy Agu and and Stella Obinwa, there was a musical performance by a Tanzanian singer, Alikiba.
He gave a good performance which many in the hall seemed to love as I
saw pockets of dancing going on by some guests, possibly those from the
Eastern part of Africa.
In introducing Osas and Gbenro Ajibade
as the next set of presenters , Minnie called them ‘The Newly Weds’. I
did wonder then if Minnie was reading a prepared script or just gushed
out her own personal introduction because it’s been months since the
couple got married. That wouldn’t qualify for being Newly Weds, if it
comes to that.
And that brings me to something I
noticed all through. I should think that in a bid to avoid wasting of
time and off-scripted monologues, the AMVCAs this year jettisoned the
script prompters or any form of scripted cues for the Awards Presenters.
Almost all the Presenters came on and went straight to the job at hand.
Not a bad idea. In between the commercial breaks, one
which the viewers at home would have been watching the Sponsors
messages, a couple of stand up comedians were brought in to thrill the
audience before the show went back to the post-commercial segments.
Seeing that I always have commented that this should be done in my past
reviews, one must commend the organisers for this. The stand up acts
kept the audience all smiling and ready when the cameras came back to
the show.
And talking about comedians, there were two onscreen stand up comedians for the night, one Thomas Gumede and the other Ugandan called Salvador.
Gemede was boring to me and out of place with his jokes. The audience
gave him some polite reactions but most times he seemed quite forward
with his jokes and was just average. But his Ugandan counterpart,
Salvador? Now, that is a funny guy! Without sounding condescending, I
actually thought he was going to be as tepid as Gemede when he was
introduced but the dude is a natural! He was so on point and had the
audience in stitches. He was one of the major highlights of the night.
When Director Stanlee Ohikhuare
came up onstage to pick up his award for Best Lighting Designer and was
giving a speech, he was rudely cut off by the sound guys. I use the
term ‘rudely cut off’ because it seemed to be in bad taste at that
point, especially as none of the nominees were told by the Producers of
the show to keep their acceptance speech short and within a time frame. I
stand to be corrected if they were. It’s not so much that he was cut
off that was my problem but the abrupt cease of sound on his microphone
to the audience in the hall ( and perhaps to the viewers at home) which
seemed impolite. What happened to the music cues?
Everything seemed to be going on relatively well from there and sitting near the irrepressible ChiGul,
the comedienne who was having me in stitches with her funny
interjections and off-beat lampoon of the goings-on onstage, was quite
an experience. Of course, when she went up onstage with John ‘Mr Ibu’ Okafor to present the Best Actor in a comedy Award, she and Okafor were very much in their elements with their banter. Folarin Falana, popularly known as Falz,
won that award. Being that he has had a good couple of years so far
with his near-nasalized mode of talking which has earned him fame and
fans, his getting the award is not in dispute.
Sam Nzeribe won the
award for ‘Best Supporting Actor’ and he gave a moving speech about how
his career was enhanced by the Catholic Church which sponsored his study
of the Creative Arts. The audience warmed up to that.
Yemi Alade came up and
performed two songs. Her performance was complemented by back up dancers
which gave it an aesthetic slant but I couldn’t help thinking that Yemi
would need to work on a new hit very soon. It’s inevitable that she
would.
There was a glaring omission in the Roll
of Honor list which scrolled pictures and names of the artistic
departed in the past year. One of the veterans in the television
industry in Nigeria and basically among the first five pioneers of the
film industry in the seventies as a Producer as well, Jab Adu, was poignantly missing in the list. That is unforgivable, if you ask me. The popular Bassey Okon of ‘Village Headmaster’ way back and Mr Adio
in ‘Adio’s Family’ passed on a few days ago and the best the research
team could have done was to add him to the roll call. He died a day or
two after Mike Odiachi, who was in the list mercifully. May his soul rest in peace, as with the others.
The Trailblazer Award went to Kemi Lala Akindoju,
a hardworking young lady who has so much to give, after giving so much
too, to the industry. She won a car with the prize and gave a good
speech which recognised all she was grateful to, including the Directors
she has worked with, except one who took a chance too on her years ago,
in my opinion. In any case, she deserves the award. No doubt.
The most moving part of the show was the
Industry Merit Award presented to Veteran Actress and a sterling ‘Elder
Stateswoman’ of the industry, Bukky Zainab Ajayi who
was wheeled on to the stage to a standing ovation. She was obviously
overwhelmed and gave a tear-jerking speech. There were a many moved
people in the hall that night and most eyes were moist when she wept and
asked for forgiveness if she has offended anyone in the course of her
career. She was so real and natural, wondering if the whole hall was
actually standing for her! It was such a beautiful aspect of the night
and one which will be unforgettable for a long time.
The surprises of the night were in the Best Actor and Best Actress diadems. A shocked and teary Adesua Etomi
won the Best Actress award, flooring the other heavyweights in that
category. That set the hall in murmurs and behind the smiles and claps,
there was wonder and incomprehensibility. Personally, I have no qualms
with Adesua winning that award. I think she is one of the most focused
actresses in her generation at present and gives unbelievable attention
to her roles. And being a trained thespian, she has range and depth. So,
she deserves the award.
The other surprise too was in Daniel K Daniel
winning the Best Actor Award, also flooring other heavyweights in that
category. I think Daniel is a good actor and that is where I will leave
it because I am yet to watch the movie which earned him a nomination and
a win. However, there were many in the audience who did not agree with
the result. I will come to these aspects in a bit.
Flavour performed and gingered the audience with his two songs. And after that Akin Omotoso won the Best Director award for the movie ‘Tell me Sweet something’
The last award of the night was won by Stephanie Linus;
the Best Overall movie for ‘Dry’, her movie on VVF. Stephanie won an
SUV too with the award and gave a good speech about the Girl Child and
even chipped in the Ese Oruru angle in highlighting the
problems bedevilling the Girl Child. I think ‘Dry’ is a good movie and
Stephanie deserves the award. Any of the movies in that category
deserved it though.
The show ended and as the guests moved
out of the hall, the little post mortems by a few practitioners began in
lobbies and open spaces before the after party.
Here is what I really think.
In areas of organisation, event planning
and stage management for this year’s AMVCA, the organisers score an A
minus, which is a marked improvement from other editions. However, there
is a lot to be desired. It is about time, in my honest opinion,
that AMVCA transmutes from being a Viewers Choice Awards to a REAL juror
or Academy driven awards which should enhance the credibility of the
voting process. It is all well and good to give the power of choice to
the audience which votes for the winners but public voting is populist
and not popular in awards such as this. Come on! This is art we are
talking about. Elevated art and artistry. A jury of excellent
professionals and perhaps other past winners would suffice here to
assess the future categories and pass their judgement without fear or
favour. When such happens, even if some may not agree with most of the
winners, there would be no groundswell of discontent when the areas of
scoring are used. Viewers Choice categories can be retained in a couple
of categories though but not the whole gamut of a growing prestigious
event like the AMVCA.
It is possible that if the awards become
a jury determined award, a rebranding of the name would be inevitable.
It is better to start the process now when the award is growing on
people than to let it ride for awhile. There’s nothing strange or wrong
in rebranding. Hip Hop Awards in Nigeria was rebranded to The Headies
and a few other awards too. It is a process of garnering more
credibility and sidestepping the collective ‘Bleh’ exclamations now
usual in the awards but making sure that the ‘Boom’ of appreciation
resonates.
A lot of work and planning obviously went into AMVCA 2016 and congratulations to to everyone. Everyone.
Because the film industry won in the end.
Originally published on CharlesNoviaDaily.com
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PLEASE BE POLITE