Peace Anyiam-Osigwe, MFR ,is the founder of Africa Movie Academy Awards. A graduate of Law and Politics from Oxford Brookes University, United Kingdom, Peace through the Africa Film Academy has trained over 5000 young people across Africa in different aspect of film making. For over 18 years, AMAA has become the biggest and most consistent platform to celebrate and recognise filmmakers from Africa and Diaspora. AMAA is partnering with Lagos State Government again this year to celebrate filmmakers who have excelled their craft in the last one year. The AMAA boss shares the plans and preparation for this year’s edition of the award with THISDAY. Excerpts:
AMAA would be celebrating its 18th edition in the next few weeks, how would you describe the journey so far?
The journey has been an interesting one, a learning curve, a contribution to the growth of African film industry, and a fulfillment that the academy found a void in the African film space and has, in 18 years, filled the void with a globally accepted and renowned project that continues to contribute, reward and keep up with global standard practice.
As the founder, how would you describe the journey?
Founding it was hard, to sustain it, it has even been harder. One, I think, founding it, I got the buzz of all we needed to do this for Africa, we needed to do this, because we needed to be authentic with judging ourselves in our own way. And not just competing in one category in anything, or being seen as second-class citizens. So we found that looking for sponsors, and then finally getting a support of certain people to start the AMAAs in 2005. It was good. We had a good run with Bayelsa state, supporting armour. It wasn’t smooth. And what a lot of people didn’t realise is that it wasn’t like it was so much money being given to us. But we had a lot of goodwill. And we put a lot of our own finances into it, as well. So, it did do a lot for AMAA and kept it going. But again, people didn’t realise that one of our biggest sponsors for AMAA actually was the United Bank of Africa, UBA, which had a three-major deal with us and that was the big break for AMAA. And I think that’s one of the biggest branding deals that has been signed in Nigeria, for an event at that time with Tony Elumelu.
Then we did other countries, Rwanda, South Africa, for AMAA, we have had some interesting partnerships with different brands, we had at one time, as well, we’ve worked with different countries, in terms of building up their film industries, and having the AMAA nominations there. And I think one of our most interesting nomination parties was the one we held in Los Angeles as well. So sustaining AMAA is hard work, because it does cost a lot to do AMAA, you have to take up a lot of the costs of a lot of the African filmmakers, most of them struggle to make films. So they can’t some in 90% of the cases, they can’t afford the cost of visa, the cost of travel, the hostel accommodation. So, you have to provide that in order to have the kind of show that you want to do. So we’re forever looking for support wherever, looking for sponsorship in order to be able to bring the filmmakers to the award itself.
And then of course, to have the kind of award ceremony that you want to have, have the events the way it’s supposed to be done. Yeah, it’s the sustainability and day-to-day, but what makes the AMAA, is actually the jury and the transparency and the integrity of those people, because they are totally separate from the Academy of jurors, who are totally separate from the AMAA secretariat in the sense that we have nothing to do with them. They run themselves totally. There is a chairman of the screening committee. There’s a director of the screening committee, the president of the Governing Council, and there’s also the Governing Council within the jury, there’s a governing council that is responsible if there are issues that come up, or questions brought up by filmmakers as to what they think went wrong in the jury or inquiries of the AMAA that is taken up by our governing council. And the Governing Council is made up of five people out of the Academy of jurors, which is the team at the moment, although some new ones have been appointed. So there are so many. When I say many levels to the AMAA that people don’t see that keep running, year in, year out, it’s functional. We, because it’s a jury system for three months, are watching films with free select selectors, and then the college of screeners, and then the academy jurors. So there’s always a check and I don’t get involved with that process. And I’m thankful I don’t have anything to do with that process because it’s it’s a difficult process.
AMAA story is everywhere but there are things people don’t about this project. What are those things a lot of people don’t know about AMAA?
So, a lot of people know about the rewarding arm of the academy, which is the Africa Movie Academy Awards. Not many people know about our partnerships and capacity building especially with the Lagos State government on the growth of the film industry. The academy, African Film Academy, has been involved in different partnerships with stakeholders like the Directors Guild of Nigeria in building capacities and contributing to the industry through training and support. In 2021, we embarked on a project known as the Film in a Box where we gave ourselves a target of producing 100 films and training emerging filmmakers. All these and many more are projects that is attributed to the AMAA brand.
Let’s go back to when AMAA debuted. Kindly share with us how difficult or easy especially for entry submissions compared to now with internet penetration across the country?
At first, only a few filmmakers and countries submitted entries but the few countries and filmmakers that sent in their films gave the dream the life it needed to take off. Some people also believed it was a Nigerian awards ceremony but we continued to make consistent and concerted efforts to enlighten and meet with other African film practitioners on the need to submit entries for the awards. We also had the support of the Bayelsa State government under the leadership of ex-president Goodluck Jonathan. For some years, the award ceremony was held in Bayelsa and contributed immensely to the tourism and popularity of the state. We have also taken the award to different parts of Africa to get it closer to other Africans. AMAA is a continental film/movie awards ceremony that rewards professionalism and not mediocrity so as it grew, we kept getting more entries and it practically became the awards ceremony to beat. I can confidently tell you that AMAA set the pace for other film awards ceremonies in Africa.
The African Film Academy, which is an arm of AMAA, has continued to do things across Africa, but this year majorly, what has African Film Academy been able to achieve?
This year, we worked very closely with the Lagos state government in training people on the field. On what the African Film Academy has done over the years, we’ve done over well with the amounts of people who have trained this year, we have closer to 12,000 people in our training buckets and database. And what have we done, we’ve basically gone to the field, and train people in something we call film in a box. And above, it’s a training module that we came up with, which is technical training and practical training. So, you get the classroom training, and all the theory and how it works and understanding it and understanding what film is, you’re made to watch films to understand the different kinds of films that can be made. And then you’re made to go in the field and learn how to practically do these things. So, it’s normally a six to eight weeks course. In this case, we’ve actually done longer than that with the Lagos State Government in Alimosho area of Lagos. We did Ikorodu, Epe, and we did Badagry and we did it on the field so that kids could walk into classes, and be trained, and they had really, really good trainers coming from all over the world, both locally and internationally. And we tried to train them in all kinds of filmmaking. We tried to train them with films that we could call, you know, Arty films, we tried to train them in what we call commercial films and we tried to make them understand that they have to look at budgets, they have to understand budgeting, they have to look at production values. And I think one of the areas that we paid a lot of attention to was our directing students, our editing students, and our cinematography students. I think we’ve actually put a lot of value in the system into the capacity building of these students in Lagos with the kind of training that we’ve actually brought on board, it’s, I feel it was impactful. I feel it will be seen and felt very soon in the ecosystem of the Lagos film industry.
AMAA used to be a big deal to filmmakers and even filmmakers. The advent of some movies’ awards and perhaps, AMVCA seem to have taken the wind of the sail of AMAA’s boat. what’s your view on this?
AMAA remains a rallying point for filmmakers. AMAA has set the pace for continental film and movie awards ceremony in Africa. I can’t speak on behalf of other awards as I am not in the know of how or what has taken over but I can confidently tell you that AMAA has done more than rewarding filmmakers across Africa. We have continued to create fora and platforms for capacity building, training, and re-training on current globally acceptable standards in filmmaking, curating, and exhibition. So, I know AMAA has done a lot, you know, in terms of capacity building, which I mentioned earlier on.
In the last 17 years, what has been the biggest innovation in AMAA?
Contribution to the growth of film sector on the African continent. The story of the film industry in African can’t be told without the inclusion of AMAA in the last 18 years. Films that have won awards at AMAA or even gotten nominations have gone ahead to do well at international film festivals like Cannes, TIFF, Berlinale, and others.
So, you believe filmmakers across the continent actually look forward to AMAA?
I think AMAA is what a lot of these continental filmmakers look forward to. I actually have a joke that I tell people all the time, I say, Africa and the rest of the world appreciate AMAA more than even the Nigerian filmmakers, who don’t really see the value in winning the AMAAs, except for a few. And if you ask some filmmakers like Akin Omotosho, or Kenneth Gyang, or some of them that have seen the value or even the guy that won with Viva Riva, there are so many people I could mention Nate Parker, who have won AMAA, they see the value in AMAA, because you see, the people who are on the Jury of AMAA are respected adjudicators on critics of African cinema in the world, they are the ones that look at African cinema that is going to go to festivals that will be appreciated at festivals, etc. You have someone like Youkou Babu, June Givanni, these people are known for African cinema all over the world, these are names that the people can see resonate for them because they’ve been in it for years. What I always tell people is that if your film gets to the last stage of AMAA, do know that you’ve done something very well. And the other thing that people have to understand, is that the jury don’t always agree, they actually fight. They actually have issues amongst themselves. They actually sometimes totally say no to certain films that come from the College of screeners. They return it back and say, No, there’s something wrong with what the college has done here. They really watch this film, so you have to give them that respect to leave them to take those decisions that they want to take in their own way, and I don’t get involved. So, it’s the ability to keep the AMAA separate and the jury system separate. And for people to realise that it’s not a voting award, it is a professional award, that over 100 eyes, get to see these films before the winners are actually chosen. That’s the truth about AMAA.
Are you saying AMAA is majorly about critically rewarding the film and practitioners?
I’ll actually agree with you that we’re more about the professionalism of the film and practitioners. And a lot of people accuse me and accuse us of paying more attention to the back end than we pay to the front end. So, in trying to mitigate against that we’ve allowed the front end, which is the glamour, to be managed by someone. And once we keep to what we believe we know how to do best, which is the AMAA itself, the professionalism, the back end, and making sure that the films that we have found to be the winner after professional critic, do win and let the people who want to do the look and feel and stuff that people want to see do their magic with the red carpet and other activities. But you see, the thing is that sometimes it goes together, sometimes it doesn’t. But this year, we’ll see a balance of the glamour and authenticity associated with AMAA.
What should we look forward to in the 18th edition?
All I can tell you is that this would be another memorable edition and the second in Lagos State under the support of amiable Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu. It promises to be memorable.
Let’s talk about the jury, how credible and objective would you say the AMAA jury is, because there have been some criticisms in the past about winners?
As I noted earlier, AMAA isn’t an award for the gram as they say now. It’s an award where winners emerge after critical assessment by the competent jurors. The jurors are credible film practitioners, who have and are still curators for several festivals, festival directors, with tested and proven record of their achievements. Keith Shiri is the Head for 2022 and I can tell you for a fact that the jury is the best you can find in Africa. We can’t help sore losers but as I noted earlier, nominees and winners of AMAA have gone ahead to do well as international film festivals and global film fora
In the next two years, AMAA would be celebrating its 20th anniversary. How fulfilled are you with where AMAA is today?
My fulfillment is building a platform, an avenue where filmmakers can be rewarded for professionalism and not just glamour only. In the next two years, AMAA would have done so much for the African film industry as a whole.
How would you describe brand AMAA to someone who just come across the brand today?
AMAA is a continental film/movie platform created to reward excellence and professionalism in the film industry across Africa and also create opportunities through capacity building and idea exchange across Africa.
What is your take on Africa film yesterday and today?
Africa film has grown in leaps and bound from the glory of yesterday to evolve into the current offerings and a promise for a brighter future.
There has been controversy over where Nollywood is in terms of ranking. As an expert, where is Nollywood between Hollywood and Bollywood?
As I have always preached, there’s no need for comparison or where the industries are at the moment. One thing is sacrosanct, Nollywood has come of age and is prominent as an emerging film industry to reckon with. Hollywood and Bollywood are industries that have been in existence before Nollywood and they are also not resting on their oars. So, in terms of where Nollywood stands, I would say it stands tall, bright, and prominent in the global film space.
What is your take on government support to film industry in Nigeria? Is it just about lip service?
Honestly, there has always been government support in one way or the other. However, the support many expect is always financial or funds. I know of the Lagos state government under Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu. The governor, through the ministry of culture and tourism, has impacted the film industry. Aside from creating film funds to help filmmakers create magic, it has also supported filmmakers in the state through training and seminars. The governor also embarked on capacity building for youths, who are film/entertainment inclined. In partnership with Africa Film Academy, and EbonyLife, at least 3,000 youths in Lagos have acquired knowledge, and technical know-how on filmmaking and other aspects. Another state investing in film and seeking private and public partnership to grow the film sector is the Edo state government. They recently held a five-day film festival that broke different boundaries. So, in all, the government in some capacity have been supporting the film industry.
