Creating A Borderless Africa Of Movie

The early Friday morning sun shines brightly on the horizon as our plane touched down at the Jomo Kenyatta International  Airport, Kenya.  Our airplane is one full of stars and as we find our way out of the arrival hall to the passport control section, immigration officers and airport porters on duty could easily spot famous Nollywood stars amongst us. Not a few of them ask for a photo shoot with Kate Henshaw-Nuttal, Jim Iyke, Ramsey Nouah, and the music duo, P-square using their phones. I watch with amazement how they take their turn doing this. Little wonder why our transfer from the airport is a little delayed by men and women who are in awe of these people whom they had only seen on TV. Their presence in Kenya marks a new turn in their impression of these artistes they adore. Different TV stations positioned their cameras at the lounge to have first hand interviews with them and announce their arrival in the country.

As we journeyed to our hotel that morning we listened to people calling in on a morning show hosted by Maina, a presenter on Kenya’s Classic FM. P-square is energetic,” Maina observes. “Energetic with the capital ‘E’. The kind of energy that P-square exudes while performing has endeared them to many people in Nigeria and beyond and it is no surprise that Kenyans are of the same opinion.

“I love P-square” says a caller.

“What do like about P-square,” asks Maina

“I love Peter,” she answers.

“Why?”

“Because he is cute.”

“I have three tickets for you and your pals for you to attend the show on Saturday,” offers Maina. A thrilling scream for joy from the caller follows Maina’s announcement. As expected, P-Square stole the hearts of Kenyans who attended their show at the Carnivore.

The nomination night of the seventh edition of African Movie Academy awards brought these known faces of the Nigerian movie industry into the city of Nairobi, Kenya last Friday and it ends with a musical concert tagged ‘Nairobi Rock with Stars’ on Saturday where P-square. J Martins and some Kenyan artistes perform.

Nollywood, by extension Nigerian music, has cross boundaries and has succeeded in uniting Africa. From Ghana, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Botswana, Tanzania, Kenya to Egypt, most of what is known about Nigeria as a country have been through Nollywood. Joke Jacobs, Ini Edo, Mike Ozuronye, Rita Dominic are some of the Nollywood gods and goddesses who have found their ways into the hearts of millions across Africa through their roles. The reception they received in Nairobi attests to how far AMAA nay Nollywood has cast its net across the continent.

It’s for this strong presence that the movie industry has on the continent that the Kenyan minister of information, Samuel Poghisio expresses his country’s interest to perhaps host an edition of AMAA in Kenya next year. “We watch a lot of Nigerian films here in Kenya,” he tells the gathering at the nomination night which takes place at Ole Sereni Hotel, Nairobi. “The film industry is becoming extremely popular and we want the relationship between Nigeria and Kenya to be mutual when it comes to filmmaking. The continent must learn to put its money where its mouth is and know that the film is the economy of our future.”

The Kenyan movie industry has really grown over the years and its clean sweep of major categories in the 2009 edition of AMAA held in Bayelsa State shows how the awards has encouraged filmmakers on the continent to improve on their works. Hence the Kenyan government has opened its doors to filmmakers from Nigeria to shoot films in any location of their choice in Kenya. “Kenya is a great destination for your movies,” adds the minister. “Free movement will be given to filmmakers to come in and out of Kenya.”

In its seventh year, AMAA has been able to unite Africa through film. Yearly, entries are received from filmmakers in different categories across the continent while films from many African countries have won in many categories. Past winnings have shown that entries are judged by members of the juror without favouring any country above the other. Actors, actresses and filmmakers from Nigeria, Ghana, Egypt, South Africa, Ghana, Kenya among others have won in various categories. Shuaib Hussein, chairman of the awards’ college of screeners and member of the jury agrees that there is always an improvement on the quality of films submitted year-on-year. On the nomination list this year, films from Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, Congo, South Africa and the United States feature prominently in the 26 categories. Niji Akanji’s new film, ‘Aramotu’and Tunde Kelani’s ‘Maami’ earn six nominations. The film, Soul Boy is the most promising for Kenya, earning five nominations. And so there is a battle between Kenyan and Nigeria films for some categories of the awards at the gala night which will take place in Yenogoa, Bayelsa State on March 27^th.

Although, Nollywood has been largely criticised for poor content what AMAA has succeeded in doing for the industry is to encourage filmmakers get serious with their art by being critical of the kind of films submitted each year. Be that as it may, Molara Wood a member of the College of Screeners observes that while there are well produced films like ‘Aramotu’ there are others whose story line and quality of production are really poor. “What a good film should do is to be able to transcend barriers that is what a film like ‘Aramotu’ has succeeded in doing. A member of the College who could not understand Yoruba the language used in ‘Aramotu’ was able to relate to the film, although it’s subtitled in English.”

Regardless of the diverse opinions Nollywood has taught the rest of Africa how film can be a powerful socio-cultural and economic export to the rest of the world such that Ghana is fast developing its movie industry and its collaborating with some filmmakers in Nigeria. “We are the talent that can move Africa forwards,” says Peace Anyim-Osigwe, CEO, AMAA. “Today the awards is no longer for Nigeria as it has become an African award. We must learn to remove our own borders because we are the ones who can tell our stories better to the world and not the negative image of the continent that is currently being shown in foreign media.”