Joyah, Agorosso, Suya leave Wed for AMAA
He had his fingers crossed when the African Movie Academy Awards (Amaa) nomination ceremony took place in Lilongwe on March 15 and amassed five nominations for his latest film The Last Fishing Boat. Now film-maker Shemu Joyah hopes for the best as he attends the Amaa awards gala in Yenogoa, Nigeria on Saturday April 20.
This is the second time Malawi’s award winning film maker has received Amaa nominations. His last filmSeasons of a Life received 10 nominations and came back with three awards from the gala in 2010.
The Last Fishing Boat
has been nominated for the best movie made in Mother/African language, best picture, and best soundtrack, made by musician Agorosso.
It also received nominations for best director for Joyah’s role and best leading actress for Flora Suya’s role as Abiti Anefa in the movie.
In an interview the film-maker said he together with actor Flora Suya and musician Agorosso (Lloyd Phaundi) will leave Malawi on Wednesday 17 April for Nigeria.
“Yes, I am going to attend the Amaa awards gala on 20 April. Flora Suya and Agorosso, who are nominees, will be going as well. We will leave on 17 or 18 April,” said Joyah.
He had said at the nomination gala that he felt the nominations were a step in the right direction as for the first time Amaa received an overwhelming entry of over 600 films from Africa and the diaspora.
“I am happy and impressed with the nominations which I must admit, I was not expecting. Malawi is slowly getting there. I am looking forward to the awards presentation on April 20 in Nigeria,” Joyah was quoted as saying in our sister paper Nation on Sunday.
Local film enthusiasts joined by President Banda who was guest of honour at the nomination gala in Lilongwe have wished the film-maker and his team success at the awards next week.
“We only pray that Joyah will come back with the awards. This is not the first time he has been nominated and his films have improved. Flora Suya too has grown as an actress and we hope she brings back the award,” said Charity Sakala on Facebook.
