Night of glamour as TAFA honour its cream

It was a long awaited night; there was plenty to look forward to from the glamour to the drama that is closely associated with showbiz. And there we were ready to honour the cream of the film industry for a work well done.

 The setting was none other than the serene surroundings of Mwalimu Julius Nyerere Convention Centre.

Guests had come from almost every corner of this region and there were some who had flown over 4,600 kilometres just to attend this ceremony.

Ruth Maingi of the ‘Mama Duka’ had travelled from Nairobi and so had Prince Richard who had  made it all the way from Accra, Ghana, whereas others had come from Kigali and Kampala in support of Tafa .

There was every cause for celebration in the nascent film industry which has since curved an identity as the second leading in Africa at least in terms of volumes.  At hand to entertain was Barnaba and Mwasiti who gave a wonderful acoustic performance to the distinguished guests.

For an industry that has for the last two decades suffered from disorganisation with in-fights among its members, there was finally a silver lining in the dark clouds. In their midst was the Minister for Information,Youth, Culture and Sports, Dr Fenella Mukangara who reiterated government’s support for performing arts in the country.

On this night there were winners and losers too, but the biggest on the night was Network, a John Kallaghe film which bagged three awards for Best Actor, Best Director and Best Feature Film.

The same film was also nominated for the Best Kiswahili film at the Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards early this year. It beat off competition from other works to emerge the top winner on this historic night.

But as John Kallaghe scored big on the podium, the shocker of the night was with Best Actor category as a rather little known Brian Ibrick beat competition from seasoned actors for his lead role in Network.

His win seemed to rub some of the powers in all the wrong places as murmurs of discontent were heard in the corridors later that night as the self appointed defendants questioned the whys and hows!

Their main point was that the man didn’t deserve to be the winner of such a prestigious accolade.

Another big win in the lead role was by Irene Paul who bagged the Best Actress award for her effort in ‘Never Give Up,’ a Hasheem Kambi film.

“Now I can say I shall never give up and it now gives me more reason to work harder,” she said as she hoisted the winner’s statuette amid cheers from the audience.  Other gongs went to Hissan Muya in Best support role, Irene Sanga for Best screen play, King Majuto for the Best Comedy, Grace Mapunda for Best Actress Supporting role.

Life Time Award went to Bakari Kassim Mbelema as the tribute Award went to Clouds FM’s Zamaradi Mketema for her efforts in her programme ‘Take One’.

As every winner was cheered on as they picked their gongs, the Tribute Award for a Personality was quite an emotional affair, tears rolled down as Kanumba’s mother went to the podium to pick the award on behalf of her late son.

The greatest recognition of the night went to the President of the United Republic of Tanzania, Dr Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete who was awarded for his selfless contribution to the film industry.  Though he was not at hand to receive the award, Dr Mukangara was there to pick it for him.

And indeed it was an award that many felt was long overdue for a man who has on many occasions declared himself a great fan for the local arts.

“I think the President deserved this award and I think it was overdue. This is a man who sometimes defies protocol just to say hello to some of us, which means he recognises the work that we are doing,” Hashim Kambi commented on the President’s award.

But as Simon and co reveled in what was termed as the greatest night in the film industry something was rather amiss.

The hall which was supposed to be filled to capacity was rather a shadow of the usual Dar es Salaam nights.

The in fights seemed to have taken its toll on the awards, several high profile actors and big names were conspicuously absent and those who came were always in a hurry and some such as Vincent Kigosi avoided the red carpet.

I looked around the hall and there was no sign of Jackline Wolper, Irene Uwoya and neither was Lulu present despite having been part of the inauguration in November.

There were claims that they had not been invited. However, one may wonder who was supposed to invite the said actors to their own night of glamour if ordinary folks bought tickets to attend the event. How about the true players?

As word later had it that the Bongo Movies camp had snubbed the award first by not submitting their films and second by not turning up for the event.

The camp could be shooting itself in the foot and from the look of things they don’t recognise the efforts that the federation is putting into the industry.

This trend according to observers only points towards an industry in crisis due to the fights that seem to stem from egoistic issues.

“One thing that we all agree is that the whole idea of the awards is healthy as it promotes competition but there are people who think they are the ones who are supposed to handle this,” says one observer.

But as many pundits have put it, the only body that can put this house in order at the moment is the Tanzania Film Federation.

Though there were challenges which were visible, there is every evidence that the awards have take off on the right footing.