MultiChoice Nigeria has disclosed the full list of nominations for the 10th edition of the Africa Magic Viewers Choice Awards (AMVCA) from 8pm on Sunday March 26, 2024.
The AMVCA is an annual event for recognition of excellence and outstanding talent in film, television and digital content throughout Nollywood and the entire African continent. The 2024 edition is scheduled for May 11 2024 at the Eko Hotel and Suites, Lagos and will be broadcast live on all Africa Magic channels.
The 2024 edition contains 27 categories, which includes 2 recognition awards for Lifetime Achievement and Trailblazer. This edition has 8 categories which are open to public voting while 17 categories are to be determined by an AMVCA jury headed by celebrated Nigerian filmmaker Femi Odugbemi. The voting categories are Best Scripted Africa Magic Original; Best Unscripted Africa Magic Original; Best Digital Content Creator; Best Indigenous Language Films for West Africa, East Africa & Southern Africa; Best Indigenous Africa Magic Original; and Best MultiChoice Talent Factory Film.
Ahead of the disclosure of nominations list, the AMVCA had announced that the Best Actor and Best Actress categories (both Lead & Supporting) would be determined by its jury rather than the public. Other non-voting categories include Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Movie, Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, Best Writing (Film & TV series), Best Short Film, Best Sound Design, Best Series, Best Editing, Best Documentary and Best Makeup.
Highlights of the nominations include the Best Digital Content category where skitmaker Layi Wasabi bagged two nominations and would face competition from colleagues Lizzy Jay, Taaooma, and the trio Elozonam Ogbolu, Lina Idoko & Jemima Osunde.
Tolu Ajayi’s Over The Bridge led with 12 nominations, including Best Supporting Actor & Actress, Best Lead Actress, Best Cinematography, Best Sound Design and Best Art Direction categories. This was closely followed by C. J. Obasi’s Mami Wata which bagged 11 nominations, Jagun Jagun and Breath of Life with 10 nominations each, and Blood Vessel with 8 nominations.
Funke Akindele’s all-time highest grossing Nollywood film, A Tribe Called Judah, had 5 nominations with Timini Egbuson and Funke Akindele getting selected for Best Supporting Actor and Best Lead Actress respectively. Editi Effiong’s one-million-dollar-budget action thriller The Black Book also received 5 nominations as its lead actor Richard Mofe-Damijo got picked.
Other nominees include Kayode Kasum’s Afamefuna (4), Bolanle Austen-Peters’s Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti (3) and Jay Franklin-Jitubor’s The Origin: Madam Koi Koi (2). In categories for series, Skinny Girls In Transit, Slum King, Wura (Season 2) and MTV Shuga Naija all got selected.
High-flying filmmakers Kunle Afolayan and Odunlade Adekola will face stiff competition from Femi Adebayo as their films get selected for the Best Indigenous Language Film (West Africa) category. The AMVCA, as expected, did not fail to recognize achievements in other regions in Africa with such categories as Best Indigenous Language Film (Southern Africa & East Africa), M-Net Originals (Scripted & Unscripted), Best Series (Scripted & Unscripted) and MultiChoice Talent Factory Film.
“We are happy to unveil the nominees for the 10th edition of the prestigious Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards,” Dr Busola Tejumola, Executive Head of Content and Channels, West Africa, MultiChoice said. “The quality of entries received was simply outstanding and the jury had their work cut out for them in shortlisting the nominees. This year’s lineup is exceptional, reflecting the diversity and creativity prevalent in African cinema and television and we can’t wait to celebrate them.”
Public voting for the 10th AMVCA has already commenced on the website and will close at 10:00 pm WAT on April 28, 2024.