Van Has Been Nominated For 2 Awards At The AMAA 2008 In Nigeria

The African Movie Academy Awards, which take place in Bayelsa State, Nigeria on 26 April 2008, were created to celebrate excellence in African film as well as set up supportive structures and networking opportunities for African filmmakers. In the four years of AMAA’s existence, the Awards have recognised filmmakers, actors, directors, producers, make-up artists and other film industry role players from around the African continent. “When we first began AMAA, many regarded it as a Nigerian awards ceremony,” said Peace Anyiam-Fiberesima, co-founder and executive producer of the AMAA’s. “In the past three years, we’ve managed to increase entries from more African countries. This year’s entries were also quite encouraging in that respect – we are clearly on a growth spurt! However, there is still a long way to go – considering that we have more than 50 African nations. We’re not putting out nearly enough movies – we’re doing more about the politics of film rather than filmmaking, and it’s important for Africa to look at the financial rewards for filmmaking as there is no proper distribution process across the continent. “Indeed the range and subject matter of the nominated films reflect the African experience in all its glory, pain and humour - collectively, the nominated movies are a real representation of the African story – submissions from Uganda, Ghana, Cameroon, Nigeria, Senegal, Kenya, Sudan, Ethiopia, as well as films from the African diaspora such as Brazil and the United States all reflected the multiplicity of the African experience.” South Africa’s strongest showings in 2008 was in the documentary section, a credit to the strong tradition of documentary filmmaking in South Africa.