Tag Archives: Peace Anyiam-Osigwe

AMAA, StarTimes reveal short-film winners

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The Africa Movie Academy Awards (AMAA) and pay TV company StarTimes have unveiled the winners in The Shorts film festival, organised to motivate young and promising filmmakers on the continent.

Peace Anyiam-Osigwe

Enobong Nkanta from Nigeria emerged as winner for his short film titled Mama’s Song and was awarded US$3,000 and a laptop.

Frank Dzikonu from Ghana was first runner-up for his animated movie Sad Story of Kojo and received US$2,000 and a mobile phone.

Frank Abasiekong from Nigeria became second runner-up for his short film Room 10 and took home US$1,000.

Edmond Tawale from Uganda was named winner in the best documentary category for his movie Ateker and also received US$1,000.

Peace Anyiam-Osigwe, founder of AMAA, said: “I’m delighted with this initiative to reward our young filmmaker and happy with the synergy StarTimes is having with the movie industry. Filmmakers need to understand the process of filmmaking. We approached StarTimes for partnership and StarTimes is willing to help us nurture these resourceful people.

“Over 500 entries were submitted while about 220 short films were selected for the screening. This shows the number of young people making their mark across Africa. We have to clear the stage for young and upcoming filmmakers. If we catch them young and structure them properly, it will help the growth of having better films being made along the way.

“The shortlisted films are still airing on ST Nollywood Plus on StarTimes and StarTimesON mobile app. If you have the opportunity, please watch them, so you will know what the young people are doing. There are a lot of topics that resonate with our daily lives. There are also little animations embedded too. So I was quite impressed with what I saw.”

Alex Jian, CEO of StarTimes, said the company’s goal was to provide a bigger platform for talented young people to succeed.

“StarTimes has been deeply engaged with Nollywood since last year, starting with the production of Ile Alayo season one, a great work directed by our friend and ambassador Femi Adebayo. During the process, we noticed the great potential of the whole industry, and we are surprised by many young content creators. They are passionate, hardworking and full of inspiration,” Jian said.

“As a pay TV platform rooted in Africa, StarTimes aims at providing the best content to its audience. And we are very willing to support content creators in all kinds of ways because when they grow, the industry grows. If they succeed, we succeed.

“AMAA is devoted to encouraging movie industry development, and now we are joining hands to support new faces. We are honored to work with AMAA on this beautiful cause, while we keep bringing fresh new content to the StarTimes audience.”

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AMAA, StarTimes to hold short-film festival

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The African Movie Academy Awards (AMAA) and pay TV company StarTimes have partnered to organise a festival for short films aimed at growing the Nigerian and African film industry.

Peace Anyiam-Osigwe

The festival is scheduled to take place from April 25 to May 25. Short films (not longer than 40 minutes) made by Africans or people of African descent between January 1, 2020 and April 2022 are eligible for submission. Entries can be submitted here on or before April 20, 2022.

AMAA’s founder Peace Anyiam-Osigwe said: “Our partnership will see short films airing from Mondays to Fridays on StarTimes leading channels like ST Nollywood+, ST Nollywood and ST Yoruba between 16.00 and 18.00 among other offerings.

“This partnership is big to us because it enables us to grow the short film industry in Nigeria and across Africa. We are happy that StarTimes keyed into this journey with us to give opportunities to young and existing filmmakers.”

She added that the festival will include a competition of some of the best short films registered and winners will be rewarded with cash prizes of up to N3m (US$7,215).

“During the festivals, exceptional films that make the cut will compete for cash prizes of US$3,000 (first prize) and a laptop; US$2,000 (second prize) and a phone; US$1,000 (third prize) with a phone, and a special prize of N500,000 for the best documentary,” said Anyiam-Osigwe.

StarTimes CEO Alex Jian stated: “The collaboration with AMAA is very crucial and strategic with the growing demand for quality local content by Nigerian and African film practitioners. StarTimes is glad to strengthen its partnership with AMAA to bring significant impact to the Nigerian and African film industry by ensuring the growth of filmmakers and getting value for their productions.”

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Osigwe named AMP president

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The founder of the Africa Movie Academy Awards, Peace Anyiam-Osigwe, has emerged as the seventh national president of the Association of Movie Producers (AMP).

Peace Anyiam-Osigwe

The announcement was made during the AMP’s seventh annual general meeting, held recently.

Adedayo Thomas, executive director of the National Film and Video Censors Board, told the AMP’s newly appointed executives: “It gives me great joy to congratulate you on behalf of the governing board, management and staff of the National Film and Video Censors Board on your very recent victory at the polls successfully conducted to elect new executives of the Association of Movie Producers by the AMP electoral committee in Asaba, Delta State.

“I am assured and convinced the new leadership with its rich composition of seasoned and accomplished industry practitioners who possess diverse experiences and tentacles will continue on that trajectory of visionary and transformative leadership, ingenuity, objectivity, consensus building, unity, transparency and accountability for sterling a superlative performance during their tenure.”

He also commended the association for a successful and peaceful election. He congratulated the previous president, Ralph Nwadike, for successfully leading the AMP for the last four years and veteran producer Zeb Ejiro for demonstrating incisive leadership and mentorship.

Promising to unite the association, Osigwe said: “To deepen the achievements of the association by opening other channels to enable members get value for their money, I will work towards ensuring that the irony of the country being the second largest producer of movies in the world but ranked poorest would be reversed.

“I assure you that piracy will be checked to protect intellectual property and to open an operational database for producers in order to create contacts for members. We also work for a review of the association’s constitution to form a working document, as we would explore opportunities in community cinemas, terrestrial television and the cable networks to ensure producers get value for their money.

“Also, distribution will not be a challenge as we shall explore the African market and if we can get only 1% of the market, it will be a great gain. We shall build the value chain by engaging and integrating almost 70% of movie producers in Nigeria.”

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NITV panel tackles digital disruption impact

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A panel at this week’s Nigerian International TV (NITV) Summit explored the challenges and opportunities of the continued growth of digital consumption, distribution and disruption.

Opeyemi Ajayi speaking at the NITV Summit

On the panel were Patrick Lee, chairman of the Cinema Exhibitors Association of Nigeria and chief operating officer at Viva Cinemas; Joy Odiete, CEO of Blue Pictures Distribution; Opeyemi Ajayi, exec director of cinemas and entertainment at Genesis Group; Peace Anyiam-Osigwe, president of the Association of Movie Producers (AMP); and Moses Iwang, CEO of Nollywood prodco Sneeze Films.

Amid all the disruptions caused by digital, the proliferation of content and the fast emergence of streaming platforms, Lee addressed how these and other factors have affected cinema in Nigeria.

For him, there have been challenges ever since the Covid-19 pandemic that enabled streaming platforms to take advantage of the situation. More people have switched to streaming movies and there are more movies releasing simultaneously on these OTT platforms and in cinemas as well. Another challenge he identified was piracy, but nevertheless he was optimistic about the future of Nollywood.

“We are still developing cinema and growing our customer base. There has been development from within Nollywood. Content is getting better. Most clients have started coming to the cinemas and this shows there is a future for cinemas in Nigeria and we are confident we can make the cinema business successful,” he added.

On how the AMP can assist the cinema industry, Anyiam-Osigwe said: “We are trying to educate our members on the need to keep the cinema business thriving. A lot of work needs to be done between distributors and producers. [We need to] organise events that bring them together so they can engage with each other better.”

Sneeze Films’ Iwang elaborated on what goes through the mind of a filmmaker. He said that after post-production, all a filmmaker wants is for their film to be screened in cinemas in the best quality. The film also has to be well marketed to achieve a return on investment, he said.

According to him, if Nigerian films are released alongside top foreign movies like Hollywood blockbusters, they have a low rate of success.

Regarding the digital challenge, Iwang suggested that films should have at least two weeks of exclusive streaming. “From the point of a view of a filmmaker, we look at how much money has been put into making a movie. How can we take the content owners from where they are to where they have a say? We need to do better with negotiations, especially with the streaming platforms and how our films are presented to the world, he added.

In an effort to encourage the next generation of movie producers, Blue Pictures’ Odiete said that the company was born out of the need for inclusion and that she wants to give people the opportunity to push forward.

Ajayi of Genesis Group concluded by saying collaboration was important and understanding challenges would help the industry forge ahead together. He also suggested finding a balance so movie makers could make more money.

“The cinema and film industry has massive potential and technology always changes things to make it better. Collaboration across the value chain with different players in the industry is the way forward,” he said.

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