Grace Omaboe, President of the GMAA Jury
Not a single Kumawood movie qualified for nomination in this year’s edition of the annual Golden Movie Awards Africa (GMAA) because they are of poor and substandard quality, a member of the jury has told NEWS-ONE.
“When you say it as it is, people would go on radio and insult your mother so some of us have decided to keep silent and observe the wrong things being done rather that speak out so we all correct ourselves. If the Kumawood guys continue to produce these substandard movies, they would never find space in the Golden Movie Awards,” the member said.
He mentioned that almost all the Kumawood movies submitted had challenges with the basic elements of a well-produced movie, specifically in the areas of the script itself, visuals, sound, character interpretation, acting and timing.
And true to his words, no movie from Kumawood got nominated.
It is a shameful development because this year, the GMAA has a partnership with African Movie Channel (AMC) to broadcast the ceremony on multiple channels in 17 African countries and some European countries, including Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda, Malawi, Rwanda, South Africa, Zambia, Burundi, Ghana, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, Congo DRC, Congo Brazzaville and Zimbabwe.
The others include UK, France, Germany and The Netherlands.
Kumawood will be missing out such an opportunity to promote its works.
When NEWS-ONE called Francis Doku, spokesperson of the Golden Movie Awards for clarification, he declined the interview and in his characteristic politeness explained that nomination of movies is a function of the jury and that he does not speak for the jury.
Mr Doku said renowned music producer, Fred Kyei Mensah, popularly known as Freddyma, will be the best person to explain because the latter is a member of and speaks for the jury. Unfortunately, he could not be reached.
NEWS-ONE has also gathered that controversial movie, ‘John & John’, from the stables of Kofi Asamoah’s Kofas Media was also shot down by the jury because portions of the movie was a direct and word-to-word remake of a 2011 South African Film, ‘Skeem’.
The GMMA is scheduled for Thursday, July 22 at the Movenpick Hotel in Accra, and it is an initiative of NMJ Ghana and its African and international partners.
According to organisers, the vision of the Golden Movie Awards is to make the works of African filmmakers attractive enough for a global appeal.