Tuesday, August 13, 2013

SELF IMPOSED AWARDS IN ENGLISH CAMEROON ENTERTAINMENT.






 “And the winner is….”

This famous sentence used to resonate in the halls of trustworthy award shows, creating anticipation and generating standing ovations as deserving winners and nominees congratulated each other on their immense contribution to the entertainment industry. You can name them; The Oscars, The Golden Globes and recently, The Africa Magic Viewer’s Choice Awards. Award shows used to mean the celebration of outstanding men and women who have changed the face of entertainment, people who have reinvented the wheel of art.

Now, we are flooded with numerous “award shows” some of which are created from the egocentricity of the minds of charlatans who call themselves entertainers. 
Granted, some English Cameroon entertainers have put in a colossal effort in the industry, but when they start patting themselves on the back with these consistently substandard award shows, one begins to question their motives. 

Often times, these quack entertainers just make much ado about nothing as they magnify their trivial contributions to an exaggerated scale, creating wrong impressions in the minds of the public who have thankfully not yet seen their horrendous works of art. How on earth can a movie be nominated when it has not yet been released? In fact, some movies have been nominated though still at the editing stage.

One clear example is “DECODED”, which has gathered numerous awards on various online and offline award shows (Cam Movies Merit Award, DAMA Awards, the recent SONNAH Awards etc.) How does a jury screen a movie while it is still at the editing level? What are we celebrating? Assumptions or facts? I am not saying the movies which were nominated were poor, but I am decrying the criteria for their selection. I do not hold the producers at fault. All fingers point to award show organizers.  

If we want to allow the wind of professionalism to blow in the nooks and crevices of this “emerging” industry, we should learn the proper ways to professionalize our actions. Only then can we benefit from the rewards of real recognition and not selfish self-donated awards that only help to diminish the potentials of talented minds in English Cameroonian entertainment.

19 comments:

  1. true talk.DECODED is hyped too much yet not even in the market.lack of money am sure.shame....after all the noise

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  2. most movies now are nothing but glam shows; the hunks, the busty chicks or mannequins (your choice), the houses, the cars and mentioning way too much money (that grossly supersedes that of the movie's entire budget)c'mon, a little realism; please!!!!what about the story?the music?the scenery?that one impossible camera shot which captures that magic moment? what about how all these come together to make a movie?just because u got good looking actors don't make whatever u do a good movie!!! u see Van Vicker (i hope i got it right) in a fist fight you give it the thumbs up!!!!!pppfffff...seriously, WTF!!!!

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  3. america has got hollywood, india has got bollywood, nigeria; nollywood and cameroon, just like we got tones of presidential candidates and way too many senators, we got tones of film industries; collywood, kamwood, callywood, camwood and my personal favorite; camerlywood!!!just for cameroon alone!how do we move forward?can't we just get one name and please, for the LOVE OF GOD!! let it not be a "WOOD"!!!!

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  4. And the winner is........Ngwane Hansel....NO WAY bro u no belong

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  5. The truth is what we dont wanna say out loud. The lies is what we profess. Go on!

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  6. it is also a way to promote earlier the future successes of the industry in cameroon which it is still in the wom..lol . It IS JUST A SHOW ..GET OVER IT

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  7. By the way I like your blog .. but don't assume you will get an award ..lol cool blogger ... more story will be great ...

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  8. Well put Hansel...
    Those type of awards are created by people who watch a lot of T V and seek ways of living the life they see on TV. The shortest way becomes creating a situation where they claim they are what they are not in front of camera's an microphones. Too much time seeking glory and no time to seek knowledge which will make professionalism the reality we will crave. Mr. Tchassie, without a conscious effort we will not see the future. And it is the work of people like Hansel which will make the future find a place in the minds of these mindless 'filmmakers'. They these 'filmmakers' don't have an idea of what they do, talkless of the future of what they do. I doubt if they care at all of the industry. They mind only about their own future's.

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  9. Entertainment is showbiz so we can allow the hypes no wahala but like I keep crying in the wilderness, what selfless efforts have the so called Cameroon film industry stakeholders made to united the industry instead of fragmenting at a teething stage. Nollywood is 20 and shamefully just branding after this long. Its unforgivable if the same people who try to grow the industry help to put it in a dilapidated state. Are the sustainable economic agendas promoted but these acclaimed stakeholders towarding maintaining a regime that will promote the industry outside their conventional egolistic hehemonies? Do they have a blueprint that should guide the industry? Setup a platform for creative debate.MP

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  10. u are not far fom the truth man. time and again Awards have been made to congratulate friends,family members and love ones and not for the real interest of it. how then can one credit the value the so call AWARDS.

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  11. I have carefully read everyone's posting on this blog. I will say this topic is of paramount important, it is demeaning to get an award of a movie that is not even in the market. There are critiria put forward for any award. A single indidual or a selected self-centered indiduals should not set up an award giving ceremony for personal pride, ulterior motives, and/ self-aggrandizement. Everyone who is showbiz savvy and oriented should get involve in setting up the criteria for Awards. There is not need to call names and to through insult to one another for it will be fallacious to do so. We are all advocating for a common purpose-a better Cameroon Movies Industry. sinnotkenz is my skype name i will be happy to help if need be.

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  12. A movie doesn't need to be released before it goes up for an award. Do you know movies normally have a "gestation" period of a year before being released? That's the norm in Hollywood my friends. That's the way producers get their money....daahhh...through award shows.
    Before you even get to watch a movie my friends, note that it had been ready some years before. That's why we have premiers. What is the meaning of premier? Unlike what I see around Cameroon, a premier isn't the first time a movie is been released, it is the first time it is been screened in public. The word Premier is French for First..people First time ever screened in public. Which then implies it had been screened in private before..logical right? That's why before a movie is been premiered, there're critic quotes already of the movie.
    On the aspect of a movie being shortlisted even though not been fully edited, I very much doubt. Do check very well, I have seen the trailer of DECODED, and it sure looks completed for me..
    So hope you all have learned something new..and please next time before saying something, try doing some research first...that's how you avoid ridiculing yourself in public (I've been down that road before)..

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  13. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  14. First of all I want to praise Hansel for the good job he is doing in the entertainment industry in Cameroon. personally I do not see the need of posting this things on the internet. You happen to be a popular face in the Cameroon entertainment industry(not to say part of it) so I think you that if you notice some thing is not going on that right way you should be able to talk to the Award directly rather than washing your dirty linen in public. With all do respect I have watched the trailer of DECODED and believe me this movie is a bomb. I very much doubt if it has not been released yet. Our Anglophone entertainment industry is still very young for criticism at least not from us. I am an aspiring Cameroonian actor studying in S Africa.my tweeter is Danne elvis if u need anything I can help with. Tumps up to jerfrey epule,solange yegika,kang quintus,Agbor gilbert to name a few for what they are doing for our industry back home. luv not hate. From Tu Baba in S.A

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  15. Don't kill yourselves, que sera sera...

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  16. I happen to have a movie that has been nominated a bit. But I am mostly a movie fan. Many valid points have been raised. We need not make direct accusations but we do need to point out mistakes so that corrections could be made. That’s how the industry will grow. Kudos to Raoul for making very key rebuttals to the general trend of the debate.
    The names of our industry that are floating around will be settled in time by the whole industry and the public. No one person is going to name the Cameroon Film Industry. The people will decide what they want to call it and we may or may not like their decision. People should go ahead and promote the names they like and the public will decide. I have preferences but I leave it to the general consensus.
    The issue with awards is rather sad because it’s not limited to Cameroon. It’s possible to nominate a film before it’s widely released but a film cannot be and should not be nominated while it’s still being edited. Why? You cannot say for sure how the movie will turn out. Only finished films should be considered. The only branches of the world wide film industry that look at and consider works-in-progress are festivals and funders. Award shows must and should only consider finished films. That’s the gold standard.
    But what worries me more is a bigger trend that has gripped the wider African film industry (Cameroon included). And that’s the nomination of films based on hearsay. My film and I have been nominated on hearsay. That saddens me because I can’t take pride in such nominations. How can you determine a film's quality if you haven't seen it? I am not talking about an unreleased film. My film has played top film festivals and won awards but some of our African organizers choose to nominate it based on previous recognition rather than based on merit after watching it themselves. Is it a lack of preparation or the lack of communication on our continent? I would gladly provide screeners to reputable, secure shows. I could then take pride in any nominations. I’ve seen random nominations in categories. But even worse is when they nominate films to fill quotas. Very often, winners are already pre-determined. That’s terrible. The public is played for fools.
    If these award shows nominate these movies without watching them because their selection criteria is popularity, they should say so. There should be no claims made about due process and juries. A Cameroonian actress whose current performance has beaten a 2013 Oscar nominee has been nominated as Best Upcoming actress at an African Award show. This African award show didn’t see (think) her performance fit for a Best actress category nomination. How can I take this African award show seriously?

    My point, like the point most people have made, is that, for these awards to mean anything to even the filmmakers, due process is needed. Beyond assembling a good team, and putting together a great show, the awards should create time to watch movies before they nominate them. And they should create time to put a jury together that will determine who wins what (after the jury has watched all the nominated films again). It is hard work. It isn’t and shouldn’t be a get-rich-quick scheme. Please, don't predetermine how the awards will be doled out. Give them to the deserving films, actors, and filmmakers. I’ve been a victim of everything I’ve talked about and some of these were perpetrated by reputable shows. Interestingly, a show mentioned above is one of the few that actually requested and viewed a copy of my film.
    I have no problem with many award shows. They are needed to help celebrate our creative work. But I do, and we should all, have a problem with poorly run and managed award shows. They undermine our achievements and progress. How on earth can you nominate people who are part of your award show? How can you nominate people and not let them know? It is true that, as Africans, we face special circumstances in communication but we must walk the extra mile to achieve greatness. It’s worth the effort. Good luck to us all.

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  17. This blog is nothing as compared to agegebread.Stop making a fool of urself and concentrate on reviving ur dead blog.there is nothin interestin to read here.Its a disgrace that u say we copy from u.look at ur blog again and check ours.the last i checked u r not the only will not be the last blogger to criticise the cameroonian film industry.Take a chill pill cos u have alot to do wit this inactive piece of shit.

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  18. Raoul please check your facts right. Big studios do not make their money from awards shows as you refer to them but from theatrical and non theatrical releases and the last time I checked, one of the criteria for the academy award was a theatrical release and at least two screenings for award consideration. Please before blatantly delve into arguments, let's make it incumbent to always check our sources.

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