AMAA 2017: Home Girls, Bimbo Akintola, Rita Dominic, eye continental acting crest

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Rita Dominic

Bimbo Akintola

By reason of the mention they received at the nomination event of this year’s edition of the premier film award, the Africa Movie Academy Awards (AMAA), held in Kigali, Rwanda on Sunday, some off and on screen personalities have been admitted into the unofficial class of the continents leading motion picture practitioners.

However, July 15 would be decision-day for all of the on and off screen personalities nominated, as they would on that day converge on Lagos to battle for honours at this year’s edition of the prestigious award, hailed by industry watchers as not just Africa’s answer to the Oscars, but an award scheme that is increasingly attracting international awareness and that truly reflects the Pan-African vision for the future of the African film and media industry.

Usually, all eyes are on the acting categories and this year, two top Nollywood actresses- Rita Dominic (76) and Bimbo Akintola (93 Days) feature on the nomination slate for the category of an actress in a leading role.

They would be battling for honour with top acting celebrities from other parts of the continent and the world, such as Cero Tshanda (Felicite), Oscar award-winning actress, Lupita Nyong’o, top actress, Josette Bushell-Mingo (While We Live), Ghanaian actress and AMAA laureate, Lydia Forson, and two of South Africa’s leading actresses, Khabonina Quebeka (Dora’s Peace) and Zimkhitha Nyoka (Vaya).

Although it is becoming increasingly impossible to tell winners of the AMAA diadem, analyst say home girls, Bimbo Akintola, Rita Dominic and Lydia Forson look good to clinching the award that would undoubtedly mark a career peak for the winner.

So, who among the home girls would do Nollywood proud at the AMAA?
Bimbo Abiola Bukola Aina Onoyigbe Mary-Ann Akintola (93 Days)
The buzz that is still in town is about her beatific acquittal of the role of ‘Dr. Stella Ameyo Adadevoh’ in the movie on the Ebola scourge, 93 Days that was directed by Steve Gukas.

Bimbo’s performance in the movie is one reason it is still being hailed in the acting department. A critic said she bumped herself snugly into the character and gave a performance that can only rival her acquittal of the role of Tutu in Richard Mofe Damijo’s Out of Bounds (her debut outing on screen).

Another critic named her performance in Jimi Odumosu’s The Mourning After as the only other performance that can match her powerful role delivery in 93 Days, which stars other notable actors, such as Keppy Ekpeyong, Francis Onwochei and Paul Adams.

In fact, if the task of deciding the leading lady of the screen were to be left to the audience, Nigeria’s Bimbo would fetch the AMAA crest for Best Actress in a leading role with ease.

This is because the Theatre Arts graduate of the University of Ibadan warmed her way into their hearts long before now. A lot of them still recall her seductive run as Tutu in Out of Bounds. Indeed it was with her eruptive performance in that best seller that Bimb, as Bimbo is simply called, etched herself in the memory of many.

So, when the show biz personality with commendable depth, a mien of the unpredictable and exotic romanticism was named as one of the nominees of the category of the Best Actress in a leading role, the social media space went on fire. Fans filled it with commendation for the actress.

Born to a father, who is a renowned Islamic scholar, and a mother, who is a businesswoman, Bimbo, star of Owo Blow, The Gardener and Armadas, is one theatre spirit who is widely believed to be easy-going, likes company and loves reading and singing.

The third in a family of six (four females and two males), Bimbo, who has a phobia for dogs, was in 1999 voted the Best Actress of the year by organisers of the annual REEL award for her unforgettable input in Out of Bounds.

So far, Bimbo said she has featured in over a 100 movies, with a dozen others still at various stages of production. She also qualifies to be described as a crossover artiste, having been involved in a number of movies produced in Yoruba, including Owo Blow, The Gardener, Armadas, Diamond Ring, Back To Life, Eje Mi and Temi ni Toto.

The actress, who enjoys listening to any music that is ‘pleasant to the ears,’ picked her outing in Out of Bounds, in The Mourning After and in 93 Days as her most challenging movie runs yet.

Observers think Bimbo needs this AMAA wining to bounce back into reckoning.

Rita Dominic (76)
Rita Uchenna Nkem Dominic Waturuocha is in nomination for the leading actress categories for the AMAAs.

Her strong role interpretation and delivery in the Nigerian drama, 76, is what earned her this well deserved nomination. Popular, talented and a busy actress that tries all the time to be on point in role delivery, Rita, who has won the AMAA award for Best Actress previously (2012), was also voted the Best Actress of an earlier edition of the African International Film Festival (AFRIF).

If the amiable actress wins the AMAA crest, it would be her second award for her feat in that Izu Ojukwu’s well-helmed film.

Rita was in February named the Best Actress in a movie at the African Magic Viewers Choice Awards (AMVCA) for the believable manner she interpreted her role in 76.

A trained theatre artistes and thoroughbred professional, analysts say Rita needs the this year’s AMAA winning to confirm her superiority and rating on the top rung of the continents leading ladies.