It is possible for African Movies to have a category at the Oscars – Omotola

Nollywood actor Omotola Jelade-Ekeinde on the red carpet of this year’s AFRIMA hinted that it is very possible for the African continent to have a category solely for African films in the Academy of Motion Picture Art and Sciences OSCARS.

The “Alter Ego” star Omotola who was in Ghana for the 2018 edition of the All Africa Music Awards (AFRIMA) which marks the fifth (5th) edition of the awards but the first (1st) in Ghana was asked if there will ever be a category to look into African movies alone by Joy Prime presenter IB (Ibrahim Ben-Bako), a question she described as a very good and brilliant one and in her answer hinted she had a meeting with CEO of the OSCARS Dawn Hudson concerning a category for African films.

“You know that’s a very good brilliant question, am actually looking into that. I had a meeting about that with the CEO Miss Dawn and she thought that was very interesting because they had never done that for any country, but it’s on the table and that possibly can happen. We will see how that goes. I think we do deserve it because a lot of African countries actually speak English so it’s a little bit weird that we have to actually submit as foreign films and what that means is that most of the movies have to be in vernacular. I feel that African movies that have vernacular should go into foreign films and because we are colonized by the English and we speak English as our first language we should be able to compete with the normal selections or categories. We will see how that goes maybe they will put something aside for us apart from the foreign films which they can’t change the rules for that which has to go in vernacular or they will create something special for us.”  

The fifth (5th) edition of the All Africa Music Awards (ARIMA) was held in Ghana at the Accra International Conference Centre. This is the first time the awards has left the shores of Nigeria and will be in Ghana for two (2) more years.

The Nollywood screen goddess Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde was made a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences this year 2018 with a signed notification by the Academy president Mr. john Bailey for having demonstrated exceptional accomplishments in the field of theatrical motion pictures.

(Source: Ibrahim Ben Bako)