Excitement in Nollywood as London prepares to host ZAFAA…Partners British Film Institute, others

L-R: Sam Anwuzia and Yetunde Oduwole

There is palpable excitement in Nollywood as the city of London prepares to host this year’s edition of the annual ZAFAA Global awards amid glitz and grandeur.

This year’s event, a three-day affair, SHOWBIZPLUSng exclusively gathered has been scheduled to begin on Thursday, November 6 and climaxes on Saturday, 8, with the awards night at the deluxe Grange Hotel, St. Paul.

The duo of Klint Da Drunk and Princess Deun will anchor this year’s gathering.
It will be preceded by a business/investment forum, youth education and empowerment seminar at
the BFI Imax.

Meanwhile, the nomination party is expected to hold in Nigeria this October.

However, in a bid to ensure that Nollywood/Ghallywood and other African enthusiasts
all over the world are
given the best, the British Film Institute (BFI) and Nollywood Entertainment Limited UK, (owners of ZAFAA), Nigerian Television Authority and the Nigerian Film and Video Censors
Board have finalised
agreements to conduct a professional youth training programme in November
at the BFI, London.

Prince Sam Anwuzia, CEO of Nollywood Entertainment Limited, United
Kingdom and President of  the African Film Festival and Academy Awards (ZAFAA), who
confirmed this in a
statement after meeting with officials of the BFI in London, disclosed that
the training targeted at
youths will hold alongside the 2014 ZAFAA Global Awards.
According to Anwuzia: “With the professional training at the BFI more
stars will emerge in the
near future, thereby giving the established stars a good run for their money.”
Anwuzia, also disclosed that since the academy
is entering a
new phase aimed at continuous promotion of African arts and culture by
telling her stories with
pictures, established actors, aspiring actresses, producers and emerging
youths will be taken
through the rudiments of the industry during the programme.
Interested members of the industry and youths who want to be part of the
training are advised to
visit the ZAFAA website and follow the link to fill the form and pay for
the programme.
Interestingly, to ensure that only the best of African films are honoured
during the awards, the
British Film Institute has already confirmed the screening of all the
entries for this year’s award,
since the closure of entries for the different categories in June.
After complaints that African films shot, recorded and produced outside
the shores of the continent
are not given adequate credit and recognition, ZAFAA has classified this
year’s awards into categories: home, away and Diaspora.
After series of meetings to harmonise the events, the ZAFAA officials in
London and Nigeria,
explained that it is more sensible to classify Nollywood and other African
countries in one category
for the indigenous and one for the Africans in Diaspora.
The organisers said: “Although, there are some of the movies with known
faces from home, we
concluded that to be fair and also encourage the aspiring stars in the
United Kingdom other
European countries and the Americas, it would be appropriate to categorise
and equally recognise
and give them their right of place.”

The speakers and participants at this year’s seminar, are to be drawn from
accomplished African and
international filmmakers/directors

from Hollywood, Bollywood, Oscars, BAFTA, BFI and Nollywood.
Partners for this year’s edition of ZAFAA
Global Awards
include: The Presidency, through the Office of the Special Adviser on Ethics and
Values, the British Film Institute (BFI), the Nigerian Television Authority
(NTA) and the National Film
and Video Censors Board (NFVCB).

The event will be beamed live on NTA
International, BEN TV and
other international television stations around the world. ZAFAA Global
Awards has been endorsed
by the Federal Ministry of Culture, Tourism and National Orientation, the
Actors Guild
of Guild and the Senate Committee on Culture, Tourism and National Orientation.