Ghana Lacks Animation Movie Experts- Says GMAA

Mr. Girmay Haile, Esther Quayson and Mimi at the launching on Wednesday.

NMJ Ghana, organisers of upcoming Golden Movie Awards (GMAA) Africa, has said that animation movies would not be a priority at the maiden edition of the awards ceremony.

GMAA's Country Director Wilhelmina Andani, aka Mimi Divalish, explained that it was because GMAA didn't have the experts to adjudge animated movies.

The GMAA was launched on Wednesday at the USAID offices in Accra, where the awards categories were also announced to start processes for the ceremony later this year.

Categories announced included Golden Discovery Actor, Golden Discovery Actress, Golden Promising Actor, Golden Promising Actress, Best Actor Drama, Best Actress Drama and others.

But animation was missing, though it is a growing industry in Africa that needs encouragement.

But Mimi said 'animation category is not in there because it involves a lot of technicalities and we don't have the experts this year, so we didn't include it.'

GMAA is aimed at celebrating individuals in Africa's movie industry who have impacted and excelled greatly in the movies and also embarked on humanitarian works throughout their countries. Besides, it is also to improve standards in Africa's movie industry.

Movie entries will be welcomed from countries like Uganda, Tanzania, South Africa, Ghana and Nigeria among others.

The ceremony itself will be a five-day event, with the main event scheduled to take place in Ghana. Among activities that will take place are free film shows for the general public in all participating countries, protect the goal awareness and film show in selected schools in Ghana and seminar/workshop for film stakeholders among others.

The launching ceremony on Wednesday was attended by USAID Country Director Girmay Haile, who applauded organisers and tasked them not to neglect the humanitarian aspect of the awards.

GMAA Communication Director Esther Quayson said movies that had been released from January 1, 2014 to December 31, 2014 qualified to be entered for the awards ceremony.

Entries have opened for producers to submit their works from Thursday February 12, 2015 to April 12, 2015.

However, she stressed that the awards' jury at its own discretion can nominate a movie or a character for an award based on performance.

By Francis Addo (Twitter: @fdee50 Email: [email protected] )