AMAA 2024… A celebration of 20 years of excellence, innovation in African cinema

The 20th edition of Africa Movie Academy Awards (AMAA), which held last Saturday at the Balmoral Convention Centre, Ikeja, Lagos, brought together African film practitioners, who showcased the continent’s film industry growth and resilience, amid pomp and pageantry.

For two decades, AMAA has been the heartbeat of African cinema, celebrating groundbreaking stories, visionary filmmakers, and unforgettable performances, continuing to honour the talent and creativity that define Africa’s vibrant film industry.

With this year’s theme as ‘Celebrating African Creativity’, the award ceremony, dubbed the African Oscars, has redefined continental awards, honouring Africa’s creative industry’s best and brightest including Ghana’s screen diva, Jackie Appiah, who emerged winner of the highly coveted ‘Best Actress in a Leading Role’.

Appiah won the award for her role in the movie, Red Carpet, while The Weekend, a Nigeria production directed by Daniel Oriahi and starring Bucci Franklin, Uzoamaka Aniunoh, Meg Otanwa and Keppy Ekpenyong went home with the biggest award of the night as AMAA 2024 ‘Best Film’ as well as ‘Best Achievement in Screenplay’ and ‘Best Cinematography’. It also won the National Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB) award for ‘Best Nigerian Film’.

South African Jahmil X.T. Qubeka won the ‘Best Director’ for Netflix’s sports drama, The Queenstown Kings, which also won the Ousmane Sembene Award for ‘Best Film in African Language’.

Femi Adebayo walked home with the ‘Best Actor in Supporting Role’ award for his performance as Ogundiji in Jagun Jagun, with the same film winning the ‘Best Makeup’ and ‘Best Visual Effect’ awards respectively. In all, the movie attracted seven nominations at this year’s ceremony.

The five-hour long ceremony co-produced by Kingsley James and Raymond Anyiam-Osigwe, had over 700 guests from different parts of Africa converging at the venue to celebrate a memorable night dedicated to honouring the brilliance, talent, and creativity of African cinema.

Speaking at the ceremony, AMAA CEO, Dr. Raymond Anyiam-Osigwe, described AMAA as a special event that truly portrayed the story of Africa on the global stage. “AMAA is not just celebrating the winners, but celebrating excellence and richness of our African history. AMAA in its second decade, a new chapter in the history book opens,” he said.

Anyiam-Osigwe reiterated the need for African creatives to remain united while leveraging on platforms like AMAA as a springboard to global fame. He also promised that the family will continue with the legacies of the founder, late Peace Anyiam-Osigwe, who impacted on the African film industry and filmmakers before her passing away.

In her remarks, the Minister of Arts, Culture, Tourism and Creative Economy, Hannatu Musawa, highlighted the industry’s potential for job creation and economic growth.

She stated that as part of the 8-point plan for Nigeria’s creative economy, the federal government under the watch of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu aims to elevate the country’s arts, culture, tourism and creative industries to rank among the top 20 globally in terms of gross domestic product (GDP) contribution, wealth creation, employment, and poverty reduction.