AMAA 2018: Awards to hold in Kigali

By: Mutiat Alli

In line with its pan-African and Africa integration agenda, the Rwandan government through the Rwanda Convention Bureau and Rwanda Tourism Bureau has accepted to host the 2018 edition of the African Movie Academy Awards in Kigali in September 22, 2018 at the Radisson Blu Hotel & Convention Centre.

The 2018 nominees for the awards will be unveiled on July 21 at a media and industry event. German filmmaker and Berlin Film Festival curator, Dorothy Wenner, has also been announced as the President of the AMAA Jury for 2018.

According to the founder, Ms. Peace Anyiam-Osigwe, AMAA remains the biggest and most credible jury-based reward system for filmmakers and professionals in the motion picture industry from Africa and Africans in Diaspora.

“It remains a fact that AMAA is the longest running Pan-African awards in the whole of Africa,” she said.

“Similar awards in film, music and virtual arts have come and gone. Since 2005 we have worked to keep and protect the integrity of the awards. This is why we can partner with Rwanda, a country where excellence and professionalism drive business and governance. The interesting thing about AMAA this year is that visitors especially Africans will not struggle to have visa as all visas will be processed on arrival. We want to thank President Paul Kagame and other African leaders that are making people’s movement within our continent very easy while we call on other African countries to have Visa on arrival policy if we can’t remove visa completely. Our people will prosper and there will be shared prosperity when we can travel and do business and even for holidays easily within Africa.”

In Nigeria, the Lagos State government of Nigeria hosted the 2017 edition of the awards at the Eko Hotel Convention Centre, Victoria Island while Bayelsa State hosted the awards for straight 10 years.