AMVCA paints bleak future for Bongo films
Dar es Salaam. The African film industry, this weekend braces for one of the most epic events in the film industry as the cream gets honoured at The Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards (AMVCA)
The awards ceremony that honours Africa’s best cinematic works has this time around been delayed but better late than never.
The scene has been set in Nigeria’s affluent Victoria Islands, Lagos where the glitterati shall converge at the Eko Expo Hotel to crown the Africa Magic Viewers Choice winners.
Filmmakers and actors from several African countries including Kenya, Malawi, South Africa, Uganda, Tanzania, Ghana, and Nigeria are all expected to attend the award ceremony.
The birth place of Nollywood, has indeed been a busy place in the last couple of days as confirmed by entertainment blogger Hazeez Balogun who says getting first class accommodation for those who didn’t book in advance could be a problem on the Island.
“I have tried to go around and most hotels are fully booked in anticipation of what is going to take place here this weekend,” he said. Being the sixth edition of the awards that was launched in 2013, the expectation is quite high among the nominees and those that shall watch the show across Africa.
Speaking on the milestone telecast, Channel Director, Africa Magic, Wangi Mba-Uzoukwu, revealed that close to 3000 entries were received across the continent.
She also said that the judging panel spearheaded by veteran film maker, Debbie Odutayo, painstakingly reviewed each of the entries to arrive at the final shortlist of nominees.
“We are delighted to once again celebrate outstanding achievements in the African film and television industry on the platform of the AMVCAs. As always, we promise a night filled with exciting and stellar performances led by some Africa’s biggest names in the music industry. Our viewers at home will not miss a moment of the event, as they can tune in to all Africa Magic channels on Saturday to see who wins the coveted AMVCA titles,” says Wangi in a statement released on Tuesday.
At the 2018 edition, a number of awards will be presented in 27 categories, with seven categories open to public voting and 20 being categories decided by the AMVCA panel of judges.
The awards will once again be co-hosted by South African media personality, Minnie Dlamini-Jones, and Nigerian on-air-personality, IK Osakioduwa.
The AMVCA might be quite a far cry from the Oscars but sometimes the temptation of comparing the two awards is rather inevitable and as such many have christened the former as the Oscars of Africa.
The industry or sector as some choose to call still operates informally despite employing hundreds of thousands both directly and indirectly, yet the same industry remains one of the maginalised in most countries.
The usual suspects dominate the nomination list with Nigeria and Ghana leading the pack of nominees of the awards that are set to be held on September 1 in Lagos Nigeria.
What is in it for Bongo movies?
In East Africa Kenya led the nominations with some 15 nominations whereas Uganda got 9 nods in the ever expanding category list.
The sixth edition of the awards will feature very little hope for Tanzania after only one film managed to break through to finals.
Flying the Tanzanian flag this term will be T-junction a Kijiweni film production by Amil Shivji that features in three nominations in the Best Cinematographer in T-junction and the Best Local Language film- Swahili.
When the nominations were released a couple of months ago the film which has won some awards beat odds to compete with other continental household names, most notably from West Africa.
It is still not clear why Tanzanian films made such a poor display even in categories where they were supposed to dominate.
The last time Tanzania won something at the awards was in 2016 when Lulu and Single Mtambalike emerged winners.
These ought to be very disturbing moments for those in the industry, though there has been some growth in the industry Bongo movies still has plenty to learn from elsewhere especially from Kenya.
Their case has shown that volumes alone cannot assure you of the credibility that you crave for, as a result most Tanzanian films hardly feature on the big screen elsewhere.
On the other hand Kenyan film Rafiki in May this year premiered at the Cannes Film festival proving that such stories have global audiences.
In recent years the Tanzanian film industry has struggled under the weight of ‘the Big Brother’ Nollywood with many actors resorting to TV given the level of piracy that continues to plague the sector.
The future
Tanzania’s Bongo movies is rated as second after their Nigerian counterparts in terms of volumes but this has not help the sector’s growth, many still struggle with poor production and story lines.
The recent rise of well trained young actors and actresses who came up with productions such as Kiumeni, Leah by Esther Mndeme and Sukari by Madudu have shown some glimmer of hope as they target change.
Though they are not in the mainstream Bongo Movies they are the type of films that win awards and this may be explains why T-Junction was the only film from Tanzania to make the cut. The old guard is being swept way with current of change and those who have remained unbent have descended into oblivion without any possibilities of ever getting back.
They belong to the past, a past that is now very irrelevant to the aspirations of the tech savvy actors and actresses of this era. Many reasons might be put forward such as the shoestring budgets and the lack of proper distribution channels but these are just part of that irrelevant past the industry remains mired in.
The discussions that have ensued about what the future holds have not been very civilized as many of the actors and filmmakers have ignored training as a key element in film production and the related facets. The AMVCA will come and go, probably by December its echoes might be only a distant memory, however it will constantly act as a crude reminder of how badly we need to reinvent to remain relevant.
