‘The Milkmaid’, ‘This is not a burial’ win big as AMAA announces 2020 winners

… As Jimmy Jean-Louis emerges Best Actor

DESMOND Ovbiagele’s new film, ‘The Milkmaid’ has emerged Africa’s best as the African Movie Academy Awards unveiled the winners of this year’s edition of its annual awards ceremony, which held virtually Sunday December 20 night.

‘The Milkmaid’ edged out ‘A Fisherman’s Diary’, ‘Knuckle City’, ‘40 Sticks’, ‘Desrances’, ‘This is Not A Burial, It’s a Resurrection’, and ‘Gold Coast Lounge’ to win the most coveted award on the night – Best Picture.

Undoutedly, it’s The Milkmaid’s glow season having emerged last month as Nigeria’s official submission for the Oscar Awards, which comes up in April 2021.
Inspired by the picture of two young Fulani milkmaids on Nigeria’s N10 note and set against the raging insurgency in the Northern part of Nigeria, The Milkmaid also won four other awards in Best Film in an African Language, Achievement in Make-up, Best Nigerian Film as well as earning Maryam Booth Best Actress Award in a Supporting Role.

Berlin-based Lesotho Filmmaker, Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese, won the AMAA Best Director Award for ‘This Is Not a Burial, It Is a Resurrection’. The surreal, art-house film also got the Best Actress Award for South Africa’s Mary Twala Mhlongo, the star of the film who passed away recently at 80.
The award came as a befitting honour to the legendary thespian who got an AMAA nomination for Best Supporting Actress in 2011.

In the Jury statement, President of AMAA Jury 2020 and former Commissioner for Tourism, Arts and Culture in Lagos State, Steve Ayorinde, noted that it had to work virtually this year due to fresh lockdowns necessitated by the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic, adding that it selected winners for the 26 categories of the awards from hundreds of submissions from African filmmakers within the continent and in the diaspora.

“With hundreds of submissions from practically every African country and the African Diaspora, we are glad that many filmmakers are unrelenting and that the continent has chosen to remain busy in the art of quality storytelling via the cinema medium.

“Indeed, we are very delighted that this year, many of the quality submissions are films shot in various African languages. It is a thing of joy to us on the Jury that majority of the films competing for top honours are also listed in the Best Film In An African Language category,” Ayorinde said in the statement.

Here is a full list of the AMAA2020 winners:

1. EFERE OZAKO AMAA 2020 AWARD FOR BEST SHORT FILM – THE LETTER READER

2. JUBRIL MALAFIA AMAA 2020 AWARD FOR BEST ANIMATION – I’M LIVING IN GHANA, GET ME OUT OF HERE

3. AMAA 2020 AWARD FOR BEST DOCUMENTARY – NO GOLD FOR KALSAKA

4. AMAA 2020 AWARD FOR BEST DIASPORA SHORT – BOXED

5. AMAA 2020 AWARD FOR BEST DIASPORA DOCUMENTARY – BECOMING BLACK

6. AMAA 2020 AWARD FOR BEST DIASPORA NARRATIVE FEATURE – JOSEPH

7. MICHAEL ANYIAM OSIGWE AMAA 2020 AWARD FOR BEST FILM BY AN AFRICAN LIVING ABROAD – NO SHADES

8. OUSMANE SEMBENE AMAA 2020 AWARD FOR BEST FILM IN AN AFRICAN LANGUAGE – THE MILKMAID

9. AMAA 2020 ACHIEVEMENT IN COSTUME DESIGN – THIS IS NOT A BURIAL, IT’S A RESSURECTION

10. AMAA 2020 AWARD FOR ACHIEVEMENT IN MAKE-UP – THE MILKMAID

11. AMAA 2020 AWARD FOR ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUNDTRACK – GOLD COAST LOUNGE

12. AMAA 2020 AWARD FOR ACHIEVEMENT IN VISUAL EFFECT – KNUCKLE CITY

13. AMAA 2020 AWARD FOR ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND – FIELA’S CHILD

14. AMAA 2020 AWARD FOR ACHIEVEMENT IN PRODUCTION DESIGN – KNUCKLE CITY

15. AMAA 2020 AWARD FOR ACHIEVEMENT IN CINEMATOGRAPHY – THIS IS NOT A BURIAL, IT’S A RESSURECTION

16. AMAA 2020 AWARD FOR ACHIEVEMENT IN EDITING – THE GHOST AND THE HOUSE OF TRUTH

17. AMAA 2020 AWARD FOR ACHIEVEMENT IN SCREEN PLAY – A FISHERMAN’S DIARY

18. AMAA 2020- NATIONAL FILM AND VIDEO CENSORS BOARD (NFVCB) AWARD FOR BEST NIGERIAN FILM – THE MILKMAID

19. AMAA 2020 AWARD FOR BEST YOUNG/ PROMISING ACTOR – FAITH FIDEL (A FISHERMAN’S DIARY)

20. AMAA 2020 AWARD FOR BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE – RAMSEY NOUAH (LIVING IN BONDAGE – BREAKING FREE)

21. AMAA 2020 AWARD FOR BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
– MARYAM BOOTH (THE MILKMAID)

22. AMAA 2020 AWARD FOR BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE – JIMMY JEAN-LOUIS (DESRANCES)

23. AMAA 2020 AWARD FOR BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE – MARY TWALA MHLONGO (THIS IS NOT A BURIAL, IT’S A RESSURECTION)

24. AMAA 2020 AWARD FOR BEST FIRST FEATURE FILM BY A DIRECTOR – A TASTE OF OUR LAND (BY YUHI AMULI)

25. AMAA 2020 AWARD FOR BEST DIRECTOR – JEREMIAH LEMOHANG MOSESE (THIS IS NOT A BURIAL, IT’S A RESSURECTION)

26. AMAA 2020 AWARD FOR BEST FILM – THE MILKMAID