Queen of Katwe scooped two awards at the 13th edition of the Africa Movie Academy awards (AMAAs), held Saturday night at Eko hotel in Lagos, Nigeria.
The film set and partly shot in the Kampala slum of Katwe is about Phiona Mutesi and how playing chess brought her and her family out of poverty and hopelessness.
The film directed by Mira Nair bagged awards in the Best Costume Design and Best Young Actor – Madina Nalwanga – categories.
It was nominated in eight categories including Best Director (Mira Nair),Best Actor (David Oyelowo) and Best Actress (Lupita Nyong’o) categories, plus the much-coveted Best Film category.
The accolade for best actor eventually went to Jahwar Soudani for his role in The Last of Us. Vero Tshanda beat Lupita to the accolade for best actress, thanks to her role in Félicité – a Senegalese film that also won Best Film.
The French drama directed by Alain Gomis also won the Jury Grand Prix award at the 67th Berlin International Film festival.
Nollywood actor, Nkem Owoh popularly known as ‘Osuofia’, was honoured with a Lifetime Achievement award for his immense contribution to the development of the Nigerian film industry.
Owoh, who won his first AMAA in 2008, dedicated his recognition to peacemakers allover the world. Nine awards of the night predictably went to Nigeria.
Samuel Kizito, nominated in the Best First Feature Film By A Director category that was won by Daouda Coulibaly for Wúlu, described the nomination of his film, Bunjako, as a major breakthrough.
“It takes some filmmakers a number of movies to stand out and get recognized but I just got the opportunity to direct this film and it is doing all these amazing things for me,” he said, adding that already more directing roles were underway thanks to the recognition.
