Movie Awards Boss Weeps

Last year’s Ghana Movie Awards came with a lot of memorable events which industry players should definitely be happy about, but Fred Nuamah, the executive producer of the awards, says the ceremony was only 10 percent successful.

Fred gave the impression that he was disappointed in his own event, something which most event organizers would not dare do.
NEWS-ONE sources say the show was planned to give movie enthusiasts a more exciting show than was witnessed at the Accra International Conference Centre on December 25.

Most of the event’s technical plans were flawed and Fred Nuamah was not pleased at all. Though a number of people had given the awards ceremony 60, 70 and 80 percent marks in terms of organization, he told NEWS-ONE that he preferred to give the ceremony a 10 percent rating and complained of poor technical production as the main reason for the mark.

He recounted the mix-up of trailers for some categories as one example. According to Fred, the only thing he loved and appreciated about the event was the fact that more than half of the stars who filled the auditorium of the Conference Centre respected the dress code.

Generally, there has been a split decision over whether the event was an improvement over the maiden edition. Some industry players and movie enthusiasts NEWS-ONE spoke to believed it was better than the maiden edition. Some are happy about the red carpet experience, where a number of cameramen- TV and newspaper- were doing their own thing. Others also spoke bitterly about some award categories and why it was given to certain stars as well as the technical hitches.

But whatever it was, there was no doubt that actor Majid Michel made history when he became the only Ghanaian actor to have picked two awards at the ceremony. Majid retained the Best Actor in Lead Role (English Language) award with the Frank Rajah-directed ‘Somewhere In Africa’.

He also won Best Actor In Supporting Role (English Language) for the same movie. Majid’s award saved the faces of the ‘old boys’, as apart from him, none of his contemporaries grabbed an award on the night. There was absolutely no show for last year’s Best Actor In Supporting Role winner John Dumelo, Van Vicker, Chris Attoh, and Adjetey Anang, among others.

Also missing in action were the 2010 Favourite Actress Yvonne Nelson, 2011 African Movie Academy Best Actress Ama K. Abebrese, Jackie Appiah, Juliet Ibrahim, Lydia Forson and Yvonne Okoro. However, ace comedian Funny Face made a debut appearance, receiving an award. He picked an award for Best Actor TV Series for his role in ‘Chorkor Trotro,’ and Best TV series category on behalf of the producer.

Hollywood actress Kimberly Elise also made it as the first Black American actress to pick an award in Ghana. She won Best Actress In Lead Role for the movie ‘Ties That Bind’. Actor of the Hollywood-standard film ‘The Dead’, Prince David Osei and sexy actress Martha Ankomah were adjudged Favourite Actor and Actress of the year respectively.

Agya Koo also retained Best Actor in Lead (Local Language) with the movie ‘Agenkwah’, while Kwaku Manu beat Mzbel (Single Six), Jasmine Baroudi (Adams Apple), Ama K. Abebrese (Ties That Bind) and James Gardiner (CEO) to win the discovery of the year award.

Nadia Buari was not there to pick her Best Actress In Supporting Role award just as Omotola Jalade, who won Best Actress, African Collaboration, with the film ‘Ties That Bind’. Ramsey Nouah won Best Actor, African Collaboration, while senior actor Olu Jacobs was honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award alongside Super OD, Grace Omaboe, William Addo, Late Sam Loco and Patience Ozokwor.

Also, what started like a competition between two top female directors, Leila Djansi and Shirley Frimpong Manso, at the awards night, came to a halt after Leila’s ‘Ties That Bind’ picked 9 awards, including the top most award, Best Picture.

Both Leila Djansi and Shirley Frimpong Manso topped this year’s awards recipients with nine awards for Leila and five awards for Shirley.
The ceremony, which was hosted by TV anchor Nana Aba Anamoah and sports journalist Nathaniel Attoh, was organised on Christmas Day December 25 by G.P Limited, in collaboration with Multi TV’s Cine AFRIK Channel and Film Producers Association of Ghana, to honour excellence in Ghana’s movie industry and beyond.

It hosted a plethora of stars. Among them were Desmond Elliot, Ramsey Nouah, Segun Arinze, and Olu Jacobs from Nigeria. From Ghana were veteran actor Super OD, Idikoko, Selassie Ibrahim, Yvonne Nelson, Jackie Appiah, Van Vicker, Rose Mensah aka Kyeiwaa, Nana Ama McBrown and others.

Described as a ‘night of tuxedos’, the ceremony began with a red carpet splendour. There were also enthralling performances by Mzbel, R&M group and Nana Boroo.

Local Twi actress Kyeiwaa spiced up the show with her dance steps and English which suffered a lot of grammatical errors, just as Joseph Osei aka Wayosi did during his acceptance speech when he picked the Best Actor In Supporting Role (Local Language). Founder’s Merit Award, which was to give out two Kia Rio cars to two stars, was postponed to two weeks, after the main awards ceremony.

Source: News One