AMAA meets in Malawi

Malawi was recently announced as the host country for the 2013 Africa Movie Academy Awards (AMAA) Nomination Night. The awards, to be held on 15 and 16 March 2013, will be preceded by a training programme and the Africa Film Academy trademarked Training program "Film in A Box" that will commence the programme on 1 March 2013.

The Africa Film Academy will be offering training to about 500 people who wish to learn Film making for two weeks from the 1st to the 14th of March 2013. The training is free. The trainees will only have to register with the sum of 1000 Mk which is the equivalent of $2.50.

AMAA organisers are calling for filmmakers with the skills to teach in any area of filmmaking be it script writing, directing, producing, acting, set designing, production design, editing and sound engineering for assistance. Those willing to help AMAA develop this budding film industry should visit http://www.ama-awards.com/.

Malawi has a long and rich history of filmmaking. One of the great movies to come out from the country is ‘The Last Fishing Boat’ by Malawian movie producer and director Charles Shemu Joya created a lot buzz on the international festival circuit.

‘The Last Fishing Boat’ is about a once successful fisherman on Lake Malawi who is now struggling while his cultural values are being threatened by the expanding tourist industry. His son has become a tourist guide. The film is Joyah’s second production after the 2009 award-winning ‘Seasons of a life’ which was screened in over twelve international film festivals around the world and won seven awards.

AMAA calls for African entries

Africa Movie Academy Awards (AMAA) recently announced that it is now calling for entries for the 2013 edition to be held in April next year. The deadline for submissions is 30 December 2012 and nominations will be announced in the first week of March.

Acceptable genres include feature length films, shorts and documentary entries. Only films produced, premiered and or released between December 2011 and November 2012 are eligible. Features may not exceed 120 minutes and shorts should not be longer than 40 minutes.

The AMAAs are an offshoot of the Africa Film Academy. The Academy, founded on the best film tradition, is geared towards research, training and propagating film making in Africa. Established in 2005, AMAA aims to facilitate the development and relevance of African film & cinema by providing a rewards & recognition platform for film makers on the continent. African film makers work hard with very little and have, not through serendipity but through sheer audacity, managed to build the 3rd largest film industry in the world, and are poised to take poll position, beating America and India.

Previous AMAA winners include How 2 Steal 2 Million (South Africa), Toussaint Louverture (Senegal/France), The Education of Auma Obama (Germany) and White Sugar In A Black Pot (USA).