Adofo, Attram For Utah Awards

Henry Adofo and Michael Attram

Two Ghanaian actors, Henry Adofo and Michael Attram, are expected to make Ghana proud as they have been nominated for the 2016 edition of the Utah Film Awards in the USA.

They got nominated for best lead actor and supporting actor for their performances in the feature film 'Freetown' and become the first Ghanaian actors to be nominated for the Utah.

Both actors are competing with equally good actors from the USA in their respective categories, as Henry takes on actors such as Henry Ian Cusick ('Just Let Go'), Brian Krause ('Miracle Maker') and Cameron Deane Stewart ('Big Bad') in his category.

Attram also contests Liam Bui ('Just Let Go'), Nathan Stevens ('The Cokeville Miracle') and Jasen Wade ('Miracle Maker') in his category.

The 'Freetown' feature film got four nominations in all, including Best Feature, Best Supporting Actor, Best Lead Actor and Best Director.

The film is about six Liberian missionaries in Monrovia who were caught in the middle of a brutal civil war, fled from the widespread violence of their native country to their destination: Freetown, Sierra Leone.

With the help of local church leader Phillip Abubakar (Henry Adofo), the missionaries make the difficult journey only to have their troubles compounded by a rebel fighter bent on killing one of their own. Based on true events, 'Freetown' is described as a thrilling and inspiring story of hope and survival.

It is the only Ghanaian production to also get nominations for the Utah Awards.

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The Utah Film Award, originally called a Filmed in Utah Award, is an accolade by working film industry professionals in the United States to recognise outstanding achievement in film, series and commercials.

The annual presentation ceremony features performances by talented artistes and the presentation of those awards that have a more popular interest.

It shares recognition of the film, television and commercial industry as that of other performance arts: Emmy Awards (television), the Cleo Awards (commercial productions) and the Academy Awards.

The first Utah Film Awards was held in March 2011 to honour Utah filmmakers. The fourth Utah Film Awards ceremony was held in March 21, 2014 at the Covey Center for the Arts in Provo to a sold-out house, and was broadcast online internationally. This year's Utah will also come off in March.

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