THE MANY FLAWS OF AMAA 2008 AWARDS

Source: nigeriafilms.com

The 2008 edition of the well publicised African Movie Academy Awards (AMAA), has come and gone, but what many did not know, especially those who did not attend it, is that the award did not live up to its billings.

Considering the huge sum of money and hype the awards enjoyed, many stakeholders in the industry had thought that this year's AMAA will be more glamorous and well organised. But the reverse was apparently the case. Not only because there were hiccups in the organisation, AMAA, according to some pundits, did not live up to its expectations, considering the massive publicity it enjoyed both locally and internationally.

The flaws started a few days before the awards was even held. Initially, the much-talked about awards was billed to hold in Yenagoa, Bayelsa state, but the venue was changed to Congress Hall, Transcorp Hilton, Abuja, within a week to the D-day.

A lot of stakeholders, both in Nigeria and abroad were actually left confused over this development. Not only because some of them heard the information very late, but because the awards commercial run on Cable News Network (CNN) was still indicated that AMAA will be held in Yenagoa. This commercial was on till Friday 25 April, the eve of the event.

Apart from this, many notable Nollywood stars were missing during the awards. The likes of Ini Edo, Stella Damasus, Emeka Ike, Uche Jombo and Multiple awards winning producer/director, Teco Benson, were among the long list of Nollywood stars absent.

The programme was even supposed to start at about 6 p.m. but it did not kick off until around 10 p.m.

Some guests who attended got what they didn't bargain for as they were stranded. The organisers could not secure hotel rooms for the stars.

One of the stars who craved anonymity told NollywoodReel that “I had to sleep inside my car, it was really a bad experience,” adding that “I hope the organisers will improved on these flaws next time.”

During the awards, star actor, Nkem Owoh, received the plaque for Best Actor of the year, while Kate Henshaw Nuttal, receive that of the Best Actress.