*’Over the Bridge’, ‘Breath of Life’ lead nominations

By Benjamin Njoku

The battle to clinch  the 10th edition of Africa Magic Viewers Choice Awards, AMVCAs has begun in earnest as Multichoice Nigeria, in collaboration with Africa Magic, during the week unveiled a nominees list with Tolu Ajayi’s full-length debut ‘Over the Bridge’ leading the pack with 12 nominations.

The film was closely followed by two streaming platforms, Prime Video and Netflix’s commissioned films “Breath of Life”, which secured 11 nominations and Yoruba epic “Jagun Jagun ” which bagged 10 nominations. Both films received nominations for Best Cinematography and Best Director. Lead actors Femi Adebayo (Jagun Jagun) and Wale Ojo (Breath of Life) are locked in a battle to clinch the Best Lead Actor award, while Fathia Balogun (Jagun Jagun) and Genevova Umeh (Breath of Life) are nominated in the Best Supporting Actress category.

Actress Funke Akindele’s bar- raising film, “A Tribe Called Judah” also bagged five nominations. While Akindele herself was nominated for Best Lead Actress, her film was nominated in the Best Movie category. On the Best Actress category, Akindele will have the likes of Segilola Ogidan (Over The Bridge), Lucie Debay (Omen), Omowunmi Dada (Asiri Ade), Ireti Doyle (The Origin: Madam Koi Koi), Kehinde Bankole (Adire) among others to beat in order to clinch the award.

READ ALSO: AMVCA 10: Africa Magic announces nominees, voting now open (Full list)

Afamefuna, a well-received film about the Igbo mentorship system of raising new business owners, also picked up several nominations, including Best Writing (Movie), while Stan Nze and Alexx Ekubo are up for Best Lead Actor and Best Supporting Actor for their roles in the film.

Showmax Nigeria Originals Wura and The Real Housewives of Lagos (RHOLagos), equally received two nominations in two categories: Best Writing TV Series and Best Scripted Series.

This year’s nominations came amidst several changes to the format of the award shows, including trimming the categories from over 30 to just 27 categories. Also, the number of voting categories has been reduced to just 9, while the winners of the remaining 16 will be voted for by a jury headed by veteran filmmaker Femi Odugbemi. Speaking about the nomination, Dr Busola Tejumola, Executive Head of Content and Channels, West Africa, MultiChoice said, “We are happy to unveil the nominees for the 10th edition of the prestigious Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards. The quality of entries received was simply outstanding and the jury had their work cut out for them in shortlisting the nominees. This year’s lineup is exceptional, reflecting the diversity and creativity prevalent in African cinema and television and we can’t wait to celebrate them.” This year’s AMVCA festivities are slated for May 10 and 11. Being the 10th edition, it’s expected that this year’s award show will be the most talked about in the history of AMVCAs. `