By Benjamin Njoku
Yenagoa, the capital of Bayelsa State will erupt in applause on the night of Sunday March 27,  2011, when winners in the 26 categories of  the 7th edition of the Africa Movie Academy Awards will be announced.

Giving the breakdown of the nominations as announced on February 25th  in Kenya, the Chief Executive Officer of the award body, Ms. Peace Anyiam-Osigwe  at a media briefing on Monday at Protea Leadway Hotel, Maryland, Ikeja gave the breakdown of the nominations, saying,  Congo and South Africa got the highest nominations.

She said that although Viva River, a film from Congo had the highest single nominations,  South Africa has four films that are very strong that made the nominations too.

“The four South African films in competition include Hope Ville with 9 nominations, Izulu Lami, 7 nominations, Shirley Adams, 5 nominations and A Small Town Called Descent with 6 nominations. Combined together, South Africa had the highest nominations by a country with a total of 27 nominations.

Ghana’s Sinking Sound had 10 nominations and Kenya’s Soul Boy had 6 nominations while Nigeria has four films that are also prominent on the nomination list with Tunde Kelani’s Maami, Inale, a film directed by Jeta Amata, Niyi Akanji’s Aramotu, and Mahmood Alli-Balogun’s Tango with Me. In by country nominations, Nigeria  trails South Africa with 23 total nominations.

‘’I want to say we have strong films across Africa and  Diaspora in competition for this year’s AMAA and all the films that made the nominations whether they win or not in their different categories are good films that will do well in film circuits around the world,’’

She also revealed that more than seventy percent of the nominees across Africa and beyond have signified their interest to attend the awards in Nigeria while stating the readiness of the organisers and host state of Bayelsa to welcome the guests from within and outside Nigeria.

‘’The good thing about this year’s AMAA is that our guests will experience Bayelsa in a new way as we have events line up for a whole week. AMAA this year will not be  a day’s event. There will be opportunity to network, share experiences and even make co-production deals with other filmmakers. Visitors will explore the sights and sound of Bayelsa and feel the people and culture of the state. Besides,  oil rich Bayelsa has great tourism potentials waiting for enterprenuers to grab.’’ she said.

Other highlights of the media briefing was the screening of a four-minute documentary and short film titled “Hidden Treasure” produced by some Bayelsa youths who were part of the training programme organised by Africa Film Academy to train 50 Bayelsan youths in different aspects of film making.

The Academy in conjunction with the state government will sponsor the best four among the students to Prague Film School for further training.