Real Reasons Why Rita Dominic And Majid Michel ruled African cinema at AMAA

Where the prestigious Africa Movie Academy Award (AMAA) is concerned, the jury has the final say. But this year, fan’s favourites Nollywood star actress, Rita Dominic and Ghollywood leading man, Majid Michel went home respectively with Best Actress in a Leading Role and Best Actor in a Leading Role plaques.
Rita Dominic got the judges nod for her sterling role in Shattered while Majid Michel’s outstanding dual role in Somewhere in Africa gave him the edge among the lot.
It was the year for the big players as the three giant countries of South Africa, Nigeria and Ghana stood out tall at the yearly convergence of Africa’s best in filmmaking, which held on Sunday at the New Expo Hall, Eko Hotel and Suites, Lagos.
South Africa was the biggest winner with Charlie Vundla scooping Best Director and his debut, film noir thriller How 2 Steal 2 Million was adjudged Best Film at the eight AMAAs.
Clearly, with four awards, How 2 Steal 2 Million was the most awarded film of the night.
Similarly, South African actress Terry Pheto was named Best Supporting Actress for her role in the same film, which also won Best Achievement in Editing (Garreth Fradgely).
Following closely was, Nigeria’s Benin-set historical epic Adesuwa by Lancelot Imasuen, it came a close second with three awards, for Costume Design, Visual Effects, and Best Nigerian Film.
But that was not the end of the award haul by the South Africans. Crime drama, State of Violence won Best Film in an African Language and Best Achievement in Sound. Also, Man on Ground, a Nigerian/South African xenophobia-themed co-production, won the Special Jury Award – given for only the third time since the inception of AMAA – and Best Supporting Actor was grabbed by Fana Mokoena.
Overall, Nigeria was the most awarded country of the night, receiving 12 awards, followed closely by South Africa with 10. Danny Glover’s Toussaint Louverture was named Best Diasporan Film.

Heroes star, Jimmy Jean-Louis hosted the prestigious awards alongside fast-rising Nollywood actor, O.C Ukeje. Colour was also added to the show with performances from Asa, 2Face Idibia and Senegal’s Viviane Ndour. Their performances put into insignificance minor setbacks such as the late take-off of the event among other hiccups.
AMAA re-established reckoning with the corporate world as it received the backing of Airtel Nigeria, the leading pan-africa GSM telecom company.

A powerful Hollywood contingent that included Isaiah Washington, Lynn Whitfield, Morris Chestnut, Rockmond Dunbar and Maya Gilbert, all graced the award.
Pledging his loyal support for the continental award, Chairman of Airtel Nigeria, Oba Otudeko in a short address said the mobile telephone giant has found a worthy partner in AMAA as a platform to contribute to the growth and development of the film industry in Nigeria and across Africa.

Signifying an improvement in the awards, Dr. Asantewa Olantunji, head of jury and director of programming of The Pan African Film Festival, disclosed that this year AMAA received 328 entries from across Africa in contrast with a lower 220 that came in last year.