The 17th edition of the African Movie Academy Awards (AMAA) will hold in Lagos on Sunday, November 28th.
A former Lagos State Commissioner for Tourism, Arts and Culture who is also the Publisher of The Culture Newspaper (TCN), Mr. Steve Ayorinde, will head the 12-man jury for the 2021 edition of the continental awards that celebrates the best of talents and contents in Africa’s motion picture industry.
The announcement was made on Wednesday in Lagos at a media lunch addressed by the Founder and President of AMAA, Ms. Peace Anyiam-Osigwe.
Mr. Ayorinde is presiding on the jury for the second consecutive year and has been the chairman of AMAA’s Governing Council for over 10 years.
A journalist and public administrator, he also served as Commissioner for Information and Strategy under the immediate past Governor of Lagos State, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, FCA.
He is regarded as one of Nigeria’s best-renowned film and art critics, who has served on the juries for some of the world’s most prestigious film festivals and awards, such as the Toronto International Film Festival, Cannes Film Festival, Berlin International Film Festival and Mumbai International Film Festival.
The 12-man Jury has consistent members from Nigeria, Burkina Fasso, United States of America, United Kingdom and Germany.
According to Anyiam-Osigwe, AMAA’s nominations ceremony will hold on October 21, 2021 while the awards proper on November 28, 2021 will be a hybrid of physical and virtual event “unlike last year when the ceremony was strictly virtual due to Covid19 pandemic.”
Speaking to journalists at the media lunch, Ayorinde, who had at various times been Editor of The Punch and Managing Director of National Mirror, said more than 400 entries were received for this year’s edition covering various categories like Animation, Short Films, Documentaries, Features and films from.the Diaspora.
“As always, the college of screeners has been meeting and watching loads of films to prune down the entries before the final shortlisted ones would be handed over to the main Jury to first select the nominees this October and ultimate decide on the winners later in November.”
Ayorinde added that the Jury would retain the 26 categories that AMAA is known for and will once again be guided by its overall objective of selecting the most outstanding actors and technicians as well as films with the highest production values.
