AfricanMagic
Africa Magic Viewer’s Choice Awards
Evening of glamour for media stars
Bruce Hill
T
he red carpet was laid out for the inaugural Africa Magic Viewer’s Choice Awards ceremony, broadcast live from Lagos on Saturday 9 March. Hosted by Big
Brother’s IK Osakioduwa and StarGist’s Vimbai Muntinhiri, the awards celebrated the best of Africa’s film and TV talent in a glamorous, star-studded ceremony. Among the big winners, ‘Skeem’ scooped two awards, including Best Movie (Comedy), while ‘The Mirror Boy’ won three awards including Best Movie (Drama). There were three wins for the team behind the movie ‘Man on Ground’. ‘Otelo Burning’ picked up an amazing four awards including the hotly contested Best Movie (Overall). It was a proud night for South African Sara Blecher, who produced and directed ‘Otelo Burning’, about a group of young people from the township who discover surfing. Amid huge applause, the Best Television award went to the Kenyan satirical comedy programme ‘The XYZ Show’, created and produced by Godffrey Mwampembwa and Marie LoraMungai, which tackles Kenyan current affairs and features a humorous spoof newscast with latex puppets. The showbiz atmosphere was enhanced by a host of homegrown musical superstars. Femi Kuti, Sauti Sol, Tiwa Savage, Banky W and Chidinma all turned out and Ghana’s very own Efya took to the stage for a celebrated performance. At the end of the evening, the Industry Merit award was presented to veteran actor Olu Jacobs and a very proud Ivie Okujaye was named TrailBlazer of the Year.
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‘The awards celebrated the best of Africa’s film and TV talent in a glamorous, star-studded ceremony’