Nairobi will come alive on 2011 February 25 and 26 when leading film practitioners in Africa and the Diaspora converge on the Kenyan metropilis for the 7th edition of the annual Africa Movie Academy Awards (AMAA) Nomination Night and Music Concert.
According to an AMAA Press Statement issued in Lagos on February 2, 2011, the event–-dubbed Nairobi Rocks with Stars–-the Nomination Night will take place on Friday night at the Ole-Sereni Hotel and some of the stars set to attend it include Nollywood greats like Rita Dominic,Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde, Mike Ezuronye, Chinedu Ikeduze, Kate Henshaw-Nuttal, Jim Iyke, and Ini Edo, among others.
Tony Anih, the Administrative Secretary of AMAA, says the two-pronged Nomination Night and Music Concert is aimed at building the brand AMAA and increasing its presence and visibility in the Eastern African region to the extent that participation in the award from the region will double in subsequent years.
The Nairobi event is thus planned as an entry point to eastern Africa that comprises Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, eastern DR Congo, Ethiopia, Sudan, Eritrea, Djibouti, Somalia and Southern Sudan.
“Eastern Africa has made very strong showing and presence in AMAA since we started, particularly in the last three editions. Apart from submitting films for the awards filmmakers and allied practitioners from these countries have come to Nigeria to attend the awards,” Anih says.
He explains that it was largely because of the region’s contribution to Africa’s premier film awards that the Secretariat of AMAA “felt it is time to make them have a feel of the award by taking the Nomination Night to them and thereby increasing the AMAA brand’s visibility in that region of Africa. Nairobi is central to East Africa and it is the economic hub of the region. It will be easy for people in East Africa to come to Nairobi. It will be a great Night.”
Another feature of this year’s Nomination Night is a concert that is scheduled for Saturday, February 26, at Carnivore Grounds in Nairobi’s Lang’ata area. The main performers will be P-Square, J Martins, Edge, Kwela Tebza and Amani.
Kietryn Zychal
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