Readers’ Mail: African Movie Academy Awards Is Bias, Has Non Reflective Jury & They Have Gotten It Wrong Again!

Hello Chris Vincent and Ghanacelebrities.com. My name is Leslie Berth Walker, a senior film student at the Georgia State University. Your website has been an immense help to me in my study of African Cinema. But today, I read with great disappointment the letter sent you by the AMAA regarding their flawed nominations list.
I have followed the award scheme for 3 years now and attended the one held in Bayelsa last year to cover it for my documentary class. I was quite impressed to see someone rose up to challenge the award nomination list, but to read their response was a great disappointment and a shame to the reputation of the awards.
3 years ago, the award nominated Perfect Picture’s three actresses as leads and all three ladies won. I am surprised that the AMAA are making such a lame excuse for relegating Omotola Jalade Ekeinde’s  role in Ties That Bind, which I was privileged to watch at the WOCAF in Atlanta last week, to a supporting role.
The headline for Ties That Bind I believe is 3 women, 3 lives, 1 hope.  Omotola did not play a supporting role in Ties That Bind, she is a member of the three women who make up the story. Ama Abebrese may have had more scenes, but that was made possible because of the presence of the clinic and her being a Dr.
Her story did not surround her job, the clinic. The clinic was part of the story as a character because it was used as an element of adumbrating. Each of the women had different stories but they all knew each other, a phenomenon that surely influenced the title, The Ties That Bind.
To suggest that Ama Abebrese was sole lead casts a doubt on the competence of the jury. The best way to have done this was to nominate all three women in a supporting role category as they all supported each other in the story or nominate them as an Ensemble Performance. There were many more nominations obviously denied Ties That Bind, cinematography being one of them. The film was breathtakingly photographed, from the bulging hills of Ghana and the warmth we have come to love about Africa. But, I do not intend to go into that.
I think it’s safe to say that relegating Omotola to a supporting role was intentional. Despite Omotola’s brilliant performance in last year’s nominated film A Private Storm, she was denied a nomination. Without a doubt, her performance in Ties That Bind is not something anyone can ignore but they managed to insult her by nominating her in a supporting role.  I hope the AMAA is not an institute that carries out personal vendettas.
My last concern about the AMAA is the type of films that are nominated. Viva Riva, like Othelo Burning and How to Steal Two Million are great films. But, they are also violent films that do not portray Africa in a good light.
It is the responsibility of the AMAA’s to create the Africa they want the world to see.  Giving credit to films from Africa that feed the stereotype Hollywood has created about Africa is not the way to go.  Viva Riva was filled with violence, sex and an immoral lead character that was beyond redemption.
I am African American, we have been shown images of Africa that are of poverty, violence and sex. It’s natural that those are the kind of stories we expect to see from there; those are the genres we are easily identify with. When I began my research into Africa Cinema, I realized that cinema is the most reliable way to create a new image for Africa other than the one the western media has created. I have come to admire filmmakers like Tunde kelani, Leila Djansi, Jeta Amata, Izi Ijukwu, Kunle Afolayan who strive to tell stories about Africa that are positive, life changing and have hero’s with good hearts.
The jury for the AMAA is biased, why are learned African men and women not part of the Jury? Why is the jury composed of African Americans who have a morphed view of who they are? I am one of those African Americans who believe we are lost. I do not wear a Dashiki to convince myself that I am black. I am Black, my skin says so and that is enough. I do not go out of my way to identify with my African brothers and sisters because our journeys are different. I am accepting of whom I am and of those that surround me.
Africa has great many scholars; my favorite writer, Ama Ata Aidoo is Ghanaian. She could easily be a jury member. Wole Soyinka comes to mind, people who are African and know their people and know also their stories.  Not even an African American who thinks he has found his “roots” will be fair to an African story because he has bought into the American Dream. In that American dream, the stereotypes rule.
I sincerely hope you will publish my letter and someone from the AMAAs will read it. I will be in Lagos for this years event. I am looking forward to it and to speaking with some of the filmmakers who will be in attendance. Your website is a great tool to use in revolutionizing organizations like the AMAA Award to strive to create a strong and positive image of Africa that does not seek acceptance from the West.
Keep up the good work.
Leslie Berth Walker
Department of Communications
Film and Video Major
Georgia State University
lbwalker@rocketmail.com
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You can send your Readers’ Mail directly to me via Vincent@ghanacelebrities.com
It may take some time to get published because I receive a lot of such mails and need to publish them one after the other. Thank You