Over the past few years, the Ghanaian entertainment scene has witnessed the insurgence of various award schemes all with the sole aim of honouring and rewarding deserving individuals in selected fields such as fashion, sports, music, movies etc. A few examples of these are the Ghana Movie Awards, Ghana Music Awards and many others.
It is therefore “a no news” affair waking up to another award scheme but one that got many talking is the Kumawood and Akobena Movie Awards now known as Kumawood and Akoben Film Festival Awards. Launched at the Miklin Hotel, Kumasi in 2011 by Samuel Darko, CEO of Samdackus Initiative, many questioned and asked why the “Kumawood” as we were all accustomed to “Hollywood” and “Nollywood” and I dare say no explanation was okay with people but come to think of it., four years after its launch, the award scheme seems to be growing from strength to strength with its unique nature.
As someone who has but for the second edition attended all the nomination parties and awards events for the KAFF Awards, I somehow have some few observations from the last event which was held at the Golden Tulip, Kumasi City on Sunday December 28 2014 which I wish to share.
Kindly take time and read through what I share as to whether “Kumawood and Akoben Film Festival Can Ever Get Better”
Unlike previous events, media personalities had very little or no challenge at all in accessing their accreditation and I guess my persistent calls to Samdackus got them working and the set (stage) for the event was unique and different from previous editions. It looked nice although pictures that earlier circulated ahead of the final touches suggested otherwise.
Fast forward to the event.
It is quite evident that one of the biggest headaches of any event organizer in the Ashanti Region is a proper venue and this was quite a problem. With organizers of the KAFF Awards changing venues from its inception (The first edition was held at the Miklin Hotel, the second edition took patrons to the Great Hall of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. Next stop was the True Vine Hotel), the only place they could finally secure was the Golden Tulip, Kumasi City where patrons could not afford but be treated to the cold nature of the weather. (I guess until a proper auditorium is erected, my Kumasi people would have to live with the cold conditions associated with outdoor events)
The venue for the 4th edition of the awards was too small to contain the huge numbers that turned up as many had to stand or walk about throughout the event.
Just like many events held in Ghana, you do not expect organizers to start on time for reasons better known to them. Although subsidiary of Multi Media Group of Companies, Adom TV had been an integral part of this year’s event and had promised to air live the event, the general public which anticipated to watch live were disappointed as the promise was not kept.
The event scheduled for 7pm started 2 hours late after MCs had been introduced. They had no option then than to rush through the programme with red carpets which somehow cost event its anticipated beauty. The late start of the event also marred the beauty as patrons somehow lost interest and could be seen loitering around without fully following events.
MCs were on point and wasted no time.
For the first time in the life span of the awards, I feel the awards were equally distributed as we saw a movie produced and directed from the Northern Sector of Ghana emerge winner of the biggest award on the night.
Well, just like many awards in Ghana, there were a few questionable winners with the biggest being the most favourite actor of the year. Guess you would (taking a look at the current trend of affair) choose Lilwin over Akrobeto but the opposite is exactly happened. Not to take anything from Akrobeto who is a fine actor and one of the best in the country, I believe Lilwin deserved it most but who am I but for my website to challenge this category as the winner according to organizers were based solely on votes. (Since you and I are not prevue to the results of the votes, we just have to swallow it just like that.)
One thing that also caught my attention was the absence of the display the traditional outfits by the actors and actresses. But for a few including Nana Ama McBrown, it seems everyone else was in certain “designer” outfit as they appeared on the red carpet. It however left me wondering as to whether the dress code prescribed to conform to the aim of the awards (rewarding indigeneity) was adhered to.
In all, the fourth edition compared to previous editions was a huge success but just like one of my primary school teachers always wrote at the bottom of my end of term report whether I came in first or not, “more room for improvement” and I believe the awards scheme will grow from strength to strength should organizers adapt to changing times and invest more.
Check out the full list of winners at the 2014 edition of the KAFF Awards Lilwin, Nana Ama McBrown, Bill Asamoah, Rahim Banda, Others Win at KAFF Awards 2014
