By Olamide Jasanya
In no special order, meet the team behind the nomination and choice of winners of most of the categories for the award billed to hold on Saturday, May 24, 2014 in Bayelsa State.
Steve Ayorinde: Ayorinde is a journalist, author and one of Nigeria’s best known film and art critics. He has served on the Jury of International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) at major film festivals like Cannes, Berlin, Toronto, Stocholm, Cairo and Mumbai International Film Festival and has been a foundation juror of AMAA since 2005.
John Akomfrah O.B.E: Akomfrah is a recipient of the O.B.E from the Queen of England as a result of his contributions to the movie industry in England. He began to explore the cinema and movie world as far back as the late 1970s and till date has directed over 25 documentary, four feature length and countless short films. His 1986 essay documentary, ‘Handsworth Songs’, fetched won seven international prizes. He has served on numerous film festival juries, including the Accra, Mumbai and the BAFTA awards.Keith Shiri: An international film curator and writer on African cinema, he is also programme advisor to the London and Venice Film Festival. He was a member of the World Cinema Fund from 2004 – 2007 and has been an expert advisor for the EU-ACP Films. Shiri is founder and director of Africa at the Pictures and the London African Film Festival and Visiting Research Fellow for Centre for Research and Education in Arts and Media (CREAM) University of Westminster, London. His experience as a film juror spans over seven years and he has been part of the jury for film festivals in Dubai, Ougadougou, Berlin e.t.c.
June Givanni: Givanni is a film curator who ran the African Caribbean Film Unit at the British Film Institute and in the US, and judged film festivals in India. She is an Adviser on Focus Features ‘Africa First’ scheme; and she is currently developing a Pan African Film Archive based on collections from 3 decades of working in the field. She is the Editor of the book Symbolic Narratives: Africa Cinema.
Shaibu Husseini: Journalist and film critic, Husseini writes for a popular newspaper and has a reputation for being one of the most consistent documentarians of the Nigerian movie industry dubbed Nollywood. He is an alumnus of the Berlinale Talent Campus press, former National Chairman of the Dance Guild of Nigeria and, currently, the Secretary General of the Nigerian section of the Federation of International Film Critics (FIPRESCI) and Federation of African Film Critic (FAFC). He also authored ‘Moviedom’.
Ayoku Babu: He is currently the director of the Pan African Film Festival and has served on the Board of the Palais de la Culture in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. He is also an international legal, cultural and political consultant specialising in African affairs. In 1977, Babu worked as a consultant to Stevie Wonder and facilitated his participation at FESTAC held in Lagos, Nigeria. He has been part of the jury team for film festivals in Italy, Zanzibar and other countries.
Asantewa Olatunji: is an entertainment lawyer and staff of Paramount Pictures Entertainment Corporation and the Wausau Insurance Companies. She is currently one of the directors of the Los Angeles Black Employees Association. She has been involved in multiple community projects, including the Nelson Mandela Reception Committee, Les Ballets Africans de la République de Guinée performance at the 1984 Olympics Arts Festival, the Youth Program for the South Central People’s Federal Credit Union and the South Central People’s Coalition.
Dorothee Wenner: She is a freelance film-maker, writer and curator with speciality on cross-cultural and women issues. She has been a programmer with the International Forum of New Cinema/Berlinale since 1990. She also curates Indian films for the Dubai International Film Festival. Her films, including ‘Peace Mission’ and ‘DramaConsult’ ,have been about the Nigerian community. She has been on the jury of the African Academy Movie Awards based in Lagos/Nigeria since its inception in 2005.