By Nseobong Okon-Ekong
Africa Magic in association with MultiChoice on the platform of the Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards (AMVCA) is recognizing and celebrating great talents in the movie industry who creatively tell our stories and make our movies more enjoyable.
Some of these categories include: Best Make-up, Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Sound Editing, Best Video Editing, Best Lighting Designer and Best Costume Designer.
This year’s award has recognized the efforts from some of the best lighting designers in the movie industry, as the likes of Akpe Ododoru, Tunde Akinniyi, Agbo, Kelly, Sunday Olalekan and Godwin Gata will duke it out for the award of the Best Lighting Designer Movie/TV Series at this year’s AMVCAs.
This is not to take anything away from the plethora of talented actors and actresses who often embody their on-screen characters to commendable effect. However, it is important that we acknowledge the remarkable work that some of these skilled behind-the-scenes professionals have been able to accomplish in the last few years.
A good example is the movie‘Isoken’, starring Dakore Akande, Funke Akindele and Lydia Forson. While the movie was rightfully praised for its acting and how it provided a believable representation of the struggles of a middle aged single woman in Nigeria, another often overlooked strength of the movie was the art direction and costume design, something that easily elevates the movie to a cult classic from the very first scene.
Jade Osiberu, who was behind both the art direction and costume design has been rightly nominated in the category for her impressive work on the movie, alongside others such as Ifan Michael, Idahaso Trails and Stanlee Ohikhuare who equally achieved impressive feats in the respective movies they worked on. While she has impressive competition for the gong, her nomination is well deserved as she has come a long way since her foray into the Nigerian movie industry.
‘Alter-ego’ is another movie which has earned wide acclaims for its depiction of a woman suffering from multiple personality disorder. The movie’s profile was enhanced even further by the return of veteran actress Omotola Jalade to the silver screen with her performance earning her a nomination in the best actress category. However, the video and sound editing which made the gripping drama such a joy to watch hasn’t gone unnoticed as Zezom Gnawni and the duo of Moses Inwang and Tunde Bakare have been rightfully nominated for their post-production work.
The African movie industry is growing at a pace very few could have predicted few years ago and the gap in quality between our content and our western counterparts is quickly shortening. This is in-no-small part due to the commendable improvement in the quality of work done behind the scenes. Now, thanks to the AMVCA we finally get a chance to celebrate these people who have played a huge part in our blossoming industry.
Witness these unsung heroes earn their well-deserved awards at the 6th edition of the AMVCAs on the 1st of September. The awards will also be aired live on all Africa Magic channels on DStv and GOtv.
