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Following the success of this year’s edition of Africa Movie Academy Awards (AMAA) held in Lagos on Sunday October 30, 2022, the organisers are not resting on their oars, as plans and activities for the 2023 edition of the awards have been set in motion.
According to the founder and president of AMAA, Peace Anyiam-Osigwe, the decision to unveil the plans ahead of the 19th edition of the continental film awards was deliberate and a move to involve every film practitioner in Africa and diaspora.
Announcing a call for entry ahead of the 2023 edition of AMAA, Anyiam-Osigwe said it is to enable more film practitioners across Africa and the diaspora submit and participate in the awards. “This is an avenue to officially rest the 18th edition of the AMAAs under the supervision of the Africa Film Academy and begin the journey to 2023. We are currently calling for entries in all categories and this will last till March 2023,” she stated.
Continuing, Anyiam-Osigwe said, “One of the aims for creating AMAA is to provide and create a networking platform and avenue for African filmmakers and practitioners to interact while getting rewarded for their creativity, uniqueness, authenticity and professionalism. We are not a popularity contest; we are a professional contest that rewards professionalism, hence the reason AMAA has two faces to it, which is the critical look and judgment of professionalism and the glamorous part. I continue to hold dear the critical arm working behind the scene while our COO, Kingsley James handles the glamorous part, which is the look and feel of the awards ceremony.”
On his part, Kingsley James reiterated that the Lagos State governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu will return as the host for the 19th edition of the AMAAs, while other activities that include human capacity building by the AFA, jury’s session, nomination unveil, and week-long festivities that will herald the 2023 edition will be unchanged.
“For us, our announcement of the lined up of activities for AMAA 2023 is a deliberate action. We will be having two or three activities every month till the end of the year and these will include human capacity building under AFA, screenings of films and the awards ceremony.
“We would be screening the five biggest films in AMAA 2022 to the media so they can also understand why these films were nominated and won big. We will be having a monthly dialogue with practitioners and creatives. As I have noted, the awards ceremony will hold in Lagos under the supervision of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu. We would also be having another round of ‘film in a box’ while the nominations unveil will come up in August 2023. For the AMAA proper, we will be having a 7-day complete creative week that will encompass music, film, fashion and arts. So, I can tell you it’s a tightly packed year for us at AMAA and we can’t do it all alone without the support of the media,” he noted.
Also speaking, Shaibu Husseni, Head of AMAA’s College of Screeners, said, “We look forward to getting great films from African film practitioners. We look forward to feature films, animations, documentaries and more. I would like to reiterate that the country of film is different from the origin of film. We don’t encourage films that don’t have Africans or filmmakers of African descent. Films can be uploaded on film freeway.”
He added that the number of college of screeners would this year be increased from 12.
