An Awards Show on the RUN
FilmStew - May 06, 09:04
Whereas the possibility on an ongoing writers strike threatened the 2007 Academy Awards, it is real political unrest that forced a last-minute venue change for the 2008 African Movie Academy Awards.
By FilmStew Staff, FilmStew.com
The African Movie Academy Awards (AMAA) are a relatively new affair, having been launched in 2004. And yet, already, the tradition had been established that they be held each year in Yenogoa, Nigeria. Not this year.
Due to ongoing civil unrest in the country, the April 26th event had to be – at essentially the last minute – moved to the city of Abuja. There, the Ghana film Run Baby Run, an action drama about a wayward suitcase full of cocaine, was the big winner, taking home prizes for Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Child Actor (Evelyn Addo).
It's no surprise really, if you go by the user comments on the Internet that accompanied the movie's release at the turn of 2008. 'The best African movie ever,' wrote Zela. Right underneath that post, another user, shocker, readily concurred. 'This is the best African movie i have ever watched and it looks so real...' they wrote.
Critics were similarly full of praise. Ghana's Statesman newspaper warned readers that Run Baby Run was set to "blow their mind," was a "one of a kind," and "employs the use of flashbacks… to take the audience on a roller-coaster ride of chase after chase, in an adventure whose end has a rather unexpected twist."
A total of 304 films were submitted for 2008 AMAA consideration. In Run Baby Run, a Ghanaian schoolboy living in London, England, Enoch Sarpon Jr. (John Apea), upon realizing that his younger sister has accidentally picked up a suitcase full of cocaine at the airport, devises a plan to get rid of it. Pretty soon, they are on the run from local ruffians in Liverpool, Manchester and London, as well as in the sights of Ghanaian kingpin Topp Dogg (Kofi Bucknor).
Expect to hear more about Run Baby Run as it hits the Cannes market and other film festivals later this year.
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