I have read opinions on social media and conversations and so I was with some Nollywood people and lovers of Nollywood and the discussion bent from cinema films and audience to awards, particularly AMAA.
So when it came to AMAA, I quietly listened to the analysis of the recently concluded African Movie Academy Awards(AMAA 2017) held in Lagos and one of the discussants asked why I was unusually quiet and I smiled. I smiled because of the words used by one of the discussants about the ceremony. I simply said that though awards are rated by the quality of the ceremony on the award day by attendees, the real guage and assessment indices for an award is the process of the award.



In the process, the most important is the quality of the jury that watch, assess and pick nominees and the final winners in different categories. So I have listened to a lot of “secret”, personal and public assessment by different people in Nollywood and I must say we are unfair to judge. I remember one the organizers of one of the Nollywood related initiative say ” I don tire!” that was after two or was a year and half of organizing the award. So we have not been fair to ourselves.



The question is, “ss the quality of films winning the AMAAwards low standard”? If no, then that is positive. AMAA should not be judged by the live television telecast or the actual event blocking or direction or production during the Awards proper. Or the presentation or the speeches or the sitting arrangement or the funny issue of AMAA as said in a conversation “leaving out Nollywood” in the awards even though the name did not say “Nollywood or Nigeria Movie Awards”, it is “Africa”, so it must not be won 90% as in the past by Nollywood. So the message to be drawn is, wake up, shape up or shift Nollywood.



It is fair to acknowledge that some points above are valid. They all matter but it is mainly the process and the quality of the different persons that assess the films. I can say authoritatively from the names I saw, that the persons involved in the decision of films to be nominated and the winners from all entries are top notch and proven experts with traceable records of practise in practical film production, post production, theory, writing, reporting and watching. So it is not like some awards I know where the organizer, his wife, school mate, church member, brother in law and cousin are the assessors of films that win awards. We all know the challenges in such initiatives but the truth remains that AMAA enhanced the greater talents of many people in journalism, acting, criticism, directing, writing, TV etc. and that matters more than the issues raised by people and listed above. I think those who pick holes about the films that won or produced winners should try and watch those films that won in order to make informed assessment and verdict. There is room for development and as I believe AMAA organizers will correct their mistakes and new ways.
The future is bright for Nollywood and Africa but Nollywood should learn from the trend it has noticed around it to improve content wise and structurally or risk being irrelevant.

So in summary Nollywood must wake up, shape up or shift.



https://etimes.com.ng/nollywood-must-wake-shape-shift-chima-okereke/

As in ehh.
I dey understand the kind of rubbish wey dey dat nollywood.
4 me, it's Hollywood or nothing

Nollywood movies are the same thing
Same stories, diff actors
Witch mother every time
Wicked uncle, wife, mother in law day in day out
We are tried abeg

Nollywoood movies are to predictable