Friday, November 30, 2012

Who Wins Ghana’s Best Actress 2012?

  Yvonne Nelson Yvonne Okoro  Nadia Buari,  Jackie Appiah, Martha Ankomah  Nana Akua

Nominations for this year’s Ghana Movie Awards are out and industry stakeholders are speculating and predicting which actor would win which award.
While movie makers who got nominated are expressing joy, those whose names did not make it on the nominations list are silent.
One of key categories that have generated some stir is the Best Actress in Leading Role category.  
It is a “clash of the titans” category because it has some of the top actresses in Ghana’s movie industry competing for a single award.
In the category are Yvonne Okoro for her performance in ‘3some’; Yvonne Nelson for ‘Single & Married’; Nadia Buari for ‘Rain’; Jackie Appiah for ‘The Groom’s Bride’; Martha Ankomah for ‘Tears of a Smile’; and Nana Akua Addo for ‘Wannabe’. 
Five of the actresses have a history with the awards ceremony. Yvonne Okoro co-won the best actress with Jackie, Juliet Ibrahim and Roselyn Ngissah in 2010. Yvonne Nelson won the favourite actress category in 2010 while Martha Ankomah picked the same category in 2011.
Nadia took Best Actress in supporting role in 2010 and 2011. Nana Akua Addo has not been nominated before. This year’s movie awards is being organized by Ghollywood Production Limited in collaboration with rLG and TV3, and supported by Vodafone and Travel Express International Hotel.


credit: NEWS-ONE

Beautiful ‘Refugees’ Actresses Unveiled


Belinda Effah

This week, there were reports that some UK and USA based African actresses will be in Ghana for the first time for the shooting of a movie titled ‘Refugees’.
They were in the person of Diana Yekinni, Okawa Shaznay and Belinda Effah. NEWS-ONE has tried to find out a little about them.   

Diana Yekinni
Diana Yekinni
Diana Yekinni is an actress. She appeared in two episodes of the television series ‘Medium’, as well as the film ‘Ijé’ as Libby. Alongside Eric Kolelas, Yekinni also featured in the acclaimed short film ‘Mosa’.
Diana Yekinni was born and raised in South London, England where she first realised her passion and true love for performing.


Diana started acting from a very young
age, starring in her first play when she was six years old. She studied theatre and dance at the Brit School of Performing Arts in London.
After that, her passion for theatre landed her in Los Angeles where she attended the full time programme at the American Academy Of Dramatic Arts. Diana was fortunate enough to work with amazing actors and instructors whilst there.
Since graduating, Diana has gone on to do several projects, both film and theatre, such as 'The Hunter', Mosa,' ‘Ije’, a Nigerian feature film, all of which have gone on to international film festivals.
Diana is currently working between London and Nigeria on various film projects.
Her never-ending passion for acting has taken her all over the world and she hopes to continue sharing her gift and love with everyone she meets on her journey.

Diana Yekinni is the winner of Screen Icon Search, organized by Golden Icons, producers of the most credible black entertainment film award, Golden Icon Academy Movie Award (GIAMA) in Texas, Houston.

Okawa Shaznay
Okawa Shaznay is an African actress of Cameroonian nationality affiliated with Nollywood USA (Nollywood movie industry-U.S sector).
Beautiful Okawa Shaznay
She was born in Cameroon. Shaznay later moved to the United States for higher education, where she graduated with a bachelor's degree in accounting from Texas Southern University. Growing up Shaznay had developed interests in performing arts at an early age; while in secondary school, she took part in several school and church plays and admired the ever growing Nollywood movie industry from her neighbouring sister country Nigeria.
Before she left for the USA, she had taken part in a few Cameroonian productions. Shaznay's first mainstream feature with Nollywood USA was her role as Bonita in a JJ Bunny productions movie called ‘Caged’, and she also starred as one of the lead characters in ‘The Bet’.
She has done several other movies and has featured in movies alongside Nollywood's notables such as Desmond Elliott, Jim Iyke, Tonto Dike, Van Vicker, Ini Edo, John Dumelo, and JJ Bunny.
Shaznay was cited in a notable UK based Cameroonian entertainment site as one of 2010's top 50 Cameroonians to look out for.
In 2010, she participated in the Miss Africa USA contest. Even though she did not win the title, she represented her country elegantly as Miss Cameroon USA at the time. Okawa Shaznay was nominated for best supporting actress in a leading role for the movie ‘This is Houston’, at the 2012 Cameroon Entertainment Awards.

Belinda Effah
A graduate of the famed Royal Arts Academy, Belinda Effah has shown that when talent meets opportunity, truly the sky is the limit.  
cute Belinda Effah
She is described as a great actress with a promising future. She acted in several English language Nollywood movies apart from Ibibio films.
She was the winner of Best New Actress at the last GIAMA awards in Houston, Texas. She is also a recipient of Nollywood's most promising actress award, Nigeria, and Akwa Ibom Youth-Recognition Award, Nigeria. She is an actress cum TV presenter and she first hit the TV screen as a housemate of The Next Movie Star of reality TV show in 2006, where she finished fifth. Now she is one of the names representing Nollywood outside the shores of Nigeria.




Face Of Tertiary 2012 Receives Prize Car



Face Of Tertiary 2012 winner, Miss Esinam Amegbanu receiving her car keys
The winner of Face Of Tertiary 2012 beauty pageant, Miss Esinam Amegbanu, (Miss UDS), has been presented with her grand prize of a brand new KIA Spectra.
The official presentation was made at a grand ceremony on Navrongo campus of the University of Development Studies and was attended by a several students and a section of the school’s authorities including Dr. A.B.T. Zakaria, Registrar of UDS, Dr. K. Gbolagade, Dean of the UDS Navrongo campus, Dr. Martin Ofosu, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Mr. Francis Ampeh, the President of the Student Representative Council as well as over 1000 students who thronged the school’s auditorium to grace the occasion.
The luxury saloon car was presented by Albert Opoku Frimpong, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), assisted by Bismark Boateng, production manager of Brein Consult, organizers of the Face of Tertiary beauty pageant.
The KIA Spectra forms part of an attractive winner’s package which also includes participation in next year’s World Miss University pageant in Korea which will involve a three-week grooming course in Europe fully catered for by the event’s organizers.
Miss Esinam Amegbanu will serve as an Ambassador of Anti-Child Labor and will spearhead a nationwide anti-child labor campaign dubbed the ‘Save the Child’ campaign.
The project, which is in collaboration with the Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs, seeks to identify, assemble and raise funds to support deprived children across the nation.
The project will also seek to educate and sensitize the general public as well as propose and execute projects that will go a long way to curb the ascendancy of this canker in the country. The project will present solutions to other problems that result in child labour such as parental poverty, unemployment, rural urban migration, child abuse, HIV AIDS amongst others.
A major part of the project will involve the chronicling of the queen’s interactions with victims of child labour, which will be featured in a documentary series dubbed the ‘Save the Child’ television series to be aired on TV.
According to Brein Consult, the ‘Save The Child’ project is set to be launched on December 28, 2012 and will officially take off in January 2013.
Face of Tertiary is the premier beauty pageant bringing together beauty queens from all tertiary institutions across the country to compete for one coveted crown to be the face of all tertiary institutions in the country.
Miss Amegbanu emerged winner in a keenly contested grand finale event held at the Accra International Conference Centre which featured 18 finalists after a long 13-week reality television show on TV3.



Credit: NEWS-ONE



Thursday, November 29, 2012

State of Angola's Disastrous Drought


Angola is now in the midst of a disastrous drought.  This is current report just released by the International Red Cross.
Drought is currently affecting 10 coastal and central highland provinces of Angola. Agricultural production has dramatically decreased and increasing water shortages have been reported. It is estimated that agricultural production will decrease by more than 400,000 tons nationally and an estimated 366,780 households (1,833,900 people) will be affected  by food security across the 10 of the 18 provinces.
The rapid assessment conducted by the Angolan National Department of Nutrition in May 2012 confirmed that most of the population, especially in rural areas, is affected by the drought. The total number of acutely malnourished children in the ten affected provinces is currently estimated at 533,000.
The assessment carried out by the Red Cross team confirmed that the situation is serious and requires immediate attention before it escalates out of hand in the coming 3-4 months. In some areas, families are sharing with livestock, few water sources that are also highly contaminated. Consequently, the possibility of outbreak of water related diseases are very high.
The Ministry of Agriculture reported a 60% decrease of average rainfall amount over the planting season resulting in 30% drop in crop production especially of cereals like maize. Total crop failure reported was recorded in some regions especially of bean crops and other drought tolerant tubers. With more than 70% of the population living below the poverty datum line, the impact will be devastating. (ICRC Nov 2012)

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Yvonne Nelson Movie Rules 2012 Ghana Movie Awards


Yvonne Nelson and her kid friends

Popular Ghanaian actress Yvonne Nelson’s movie titled ‘Single & Married’ topped nominations for the 2012 edition of the prestigious Ghana Movie awards.
The movie had 13 nominations including Best Actress In Leading Role, Best Picture, Best Directing English Language, Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Screen Play and Best editing categories.
Other movies that got nominations include ‘Hotel Babylon’, ‘Grooms Bride’, ‘My Story’, ‘Joni Waka’ and ‘Ghana Police’.
The event was on Monday launched at the premises of rLG offices in Accra to kick-start this year’s competition.
Vicky Zugah, Van Vicker, Juliet Ibrahim & Edward Kufour at the launch
The award ceremony is scheduled to come off at the Accra International Conference Centre on Christmas Day, December 25. This year’s event is being organized by Ghollywood Production Limited in collaboration with rLG and TV3, and supported by Vodafone and Travel Express International Hotel.
 Organizers had wanted to shift the award date to December 2 due to Ghana’s elections. But they finally decided on the usual date, December 25.
Among celebrities at the launching event were John Dumelo, Van Vicker, Juliet Ibrahim, Martha Ankomah, Khareema Aguiar, Vicky Zugah, Edward Agyekum Kufour and Amanda Jissih. 
Top actresses Yvonne Okoro, Yvonne Nelson, Nadia Buari, Jackie Appiah, Martha Ankomah and Nana Akua Addo were nominated for Best Actress in Leading Role.
Van Vicker, John Dumelo, Prince David, Kofi Adjorlolo and Ekow Blankson were also nominated for Best Actor In Leading Role.

Below is the full list of nominees:
BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
Van Vicker -Joni Waka
John Dumelo- Queen Latifa
Prince Dave Osei- Off The Hook
Kofi Adjorlolo- Wipe My Tears
Ekow Blankson - Secret Burden


BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
Yvonne Nelson- Single And Married
Martha Ankomah - Tears Of A Smile
Jackie Appiah - Grooms Bride
Nana Akua Addo - Wannabe
Yvonne Okoro - 3 Some
Nadia Buari - Rain

BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE LOCAL LANGUAGE
Akwesi Boadi-  Osofa Mafia
Farida Mohammed - Gobana
Kofi Adu- Agya Koo Trotro Driver
Isaac Amoako - Saman Mogya
Kwaku Manu - Area Boys

BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE LOCAL LANGUAGE
Nana Ama Mac Brown - Nyankonton
Vivian Jill -  My Story
Linda Abbey - Saman Mogya
Tracy Boakye - Oh Vera
Mercy Aseidu - Baby Face


BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
Adjetey Annan - Rain
Majid Michel - Grooms Bride
Rahim Banda - Wipe My Tears
Edward Agyekum Kuffour- Tears Of A Smile
Frank Artus - Trap In The Game
Chris Attoh - Single And Married


BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
Kalsum Sinare - 3 Some
Anita Erskine  - Single And Married
Linda Awuku - Wannabe
Lydia Forson - In The Cupboard
Christabel Ekeh - Wrong Target
Nikki Samonas - Queen Latifa


BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE LOCAL LANGUAGE
Apostle John Prah-  Osofo Mafia
Kojo Nkansah-Kweku Saman
Samuel Ofori-Oh Vera
Bernard Opoku - Police Officer
Ebenezer Donkor - B14


BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE LOCAL LANGUAGE
Naana Hayford - Odo Ntentan
Fatima Osman - Gobona
Rose Mensah - Fathia Fata Nkrumah
Emilia Brobbey - My Story
Matilda Asare -Ghana Police
Ellen White - Saman Mogya

BEST ACTOR AFRICAN COLLABORATION
Kalu Keagwu  - Shadow In The Dark
Ramsey Noah - Hotel Babylon
Alex Usifo - Off The Hook
Uti Nwachukwu - In The Cupboard
Yemi Black - The Search
Alex Ekubo - Lovelorn

BEST ACTRESS AFRICAN COLLABORATION
Ini Edo - In The Cupboard
Patience Ozukwo - Untamed
Rukky Sanda - The Search
Nse Ikpe Etim - The Search
Tonto Dike - Lovelorn
Mercy Johnson- Wild Target

BEST PICTURE  AFRICAN COLLABORATION
Desmond  Elliot  & Caroline Danjuma - In The Cupboard
Yvonne Nelson  - Single And Married
Abdul Sallam - Grooms Bride
Andy Boyo - Untamed
Kobi Rana - Hotel Babylon

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Single & Married - Kwame Awuah
Hotel Babylon - Kobi Rana
Joni Waka  - Van Vicker
Area Boys - Kwame Agyeman
Grooms Bride -  Adams Umar



BEST PICTURE
Joni Waka  - Van Vicker And Dr Clarice Kulah-Ford
Grooms Bride - Abdul Sallam
Single & Married - Yvonne Nelson
Trap In The Game - Frank Rajah Arase
Ghana Police - Eugene Moratt
Hotel Babylon - Kobi Rana
Secret Burden- Sellasie Ibrahim
Wannabe - Edmond Quarshie And Michael Odeka

BEST EDITING
Grooms Bride - Enoch Opoku
Hotel Babylon - Kobi Rana
Single & Married - Ebenezer Sowatey
B14 - Ninja
Wannabe- Afra Marley

BEST COSTUME & WARDROBE
Queen Latifah - Mabel  Germain
Ghana Police - Monica Agboli & Nicolas Nsiah
Return Of The Bukom Lion- De She Kollections
Fathia Fata Nkrumah - George Atobrah
Grooms Bride - Samira Yakubu
Secret Burden - Smarty's Management

BEST ART DIRECTION
Return Of The Bukom Lion - Production Design: SHE Quartey; Set Decoration Richard Quartey
Fathia  Fata  Nkrumah -  Production Design:  Jude Odoh ; Set Decoration: Bismark Gyamera
Rain -     Production Design:  DJ Varga Set Decoration: DJ Varga
Ghana Police- Production Design: Jones Agyeman Set Decoration: James Akwasi Wiafe
Single & Married - Production Design: Pascal Amanfo; Set Decoration: Bismark Nii Odoi
Secret Burden - Production Design: John Izedonmi: Set Decoration: Fusani Mamudu

BEST MUSIC ORIGINAL SONG
Azonto Ghost - Bisa
Destiny's Child - Wilhelmina Abu Andani
Single & Married  Abraham  Affaine
Wrong Target - Samuel  Sarpong
Fathia Fata Nkrumah - Adu Patrick

BEST DIRECTING ENGLISH LANGUAGE
Single And Married - Pascal Amanfo
Grooms Bride - Frank Rajah Arase
Queen Latifa - Kensteve Anuka
In The Cupboard - Desmond  Elliot
Hotel Babylon - Kobi Rana

BEST DIRECTING LOCAL LANGUAGE
Oh Vera - Samuel Ofori
Joni Waka - Van Vicker
Saman Mogya - Augustine Abbey
Fathia Fata Nkrumah - Frank Gharbin
Ghana Police - Jones Agyemang
Area Boys - Kofi Asamoah

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
B14 - Ninja
Wrong Target - Albert Adom
Saman Mogya - Real Illusion

BEST WRITING ADAPTED OR ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Dwomo Benjamin And Eddie Nartey- Testing The Waters
Frank Rajah - Trap In The Game
Secret Burden - John Martey
In The Cupboard - Kenhinde Olorunyomi And Lydia Forson
Single And Married - Pascal Amanfo

BEST MAKE UP
Tears Of A Smile - Comfort Ade
Groom Bride - Forreal Mensah
Fathia Fata Nkrumah - Jude Odoh
Single And Married - Lydia Ashietey

BEST MUSIC - ORIGINAL SCORE
Single And Married - Abraham Affaine
In The Cupboard - Rumeh
Hotel Babylon - Kobi Rana
Secret Burden - Gbenga Amuni
Joni Waka - Lynx  Entertainment




Credit: NEWS-ONE