Okay! So, following the feedback I received on Twitter and Facebook after my live broadcast of winners at the 2011 Ghana Movie Awards, and of course my own analysis of events, I have compiled 5 of the biggest bloopers for this year’s ceremony.

I have realized that one of the biggest problems that people had with the ceremony was the fact that movies like ‘Ties That Bind’ and ‘Somewhere in Africa’ which had not been commercially released or premiered in Ghana yet, were nominated for awards. However, according to the Ghana Movie Awards, movies are considered for nominations based on submission and not commercial releases. Once submitted, the movies are reviewed and shortlisted for the awards. After that, the jury members and/or the public vote to choose the winners.

Based on the above explanation, I want to believe that all 10 chapters of the Adams Apples movie series were submitted to the jury for review as well. If not, then I don’t see how it should be nominated for a category such as Best Story, since each chapter is incomplete, and the nomination was not for a specific chapter but the movie in entirety. With this out of the day, let’s count down the bloopers

5. Technical nightmares

If you can look beyond the errors in technicalities as to who or what qualifies to be nominated for a Ghana Movie Award, let’s fast forward to the awards night and the technical errors that marred the ceremony a bit. The night started with faulty microphones and every now and then, some presenters had to present awards that did not reflect the nomination category that were played for their presentations. I think this was unacceptable for an award that is in its second year. I also didn’t like the order the awards were presented; we knew the Best Picture of the year from when the first set of awards were presented. Isn’t that supposed to be the ultimate award? No wonder when, they hosts closed the show, people where wondering if that was all!

4. One for Tom, Dick and Harry!

I wasn’t happy when it was announced that this year, a new award category had been created for Best Cameo role in a movie. I mean seriously, who gets an award for making a short appearance in a movie and how do you even judge the best cameo appearance? To make matters worse I found out at the ceremony that indeed there was an award each for Best Cameo Actress and Best Cameo Actor.

3. Acting reincarnation?

One of the magic of this year’s Ghana Movie Award was how Omotola Jolade-Ekeinde and Kinberly Elise managed to grab a Best Actress in a Leading Role nomination ahead of Ghanaian actress, Ama K Abebrese for their roles in ‘Ties That Bind’. We thank goodness that all three of them weren’t nominated together for the award this year but I still don’t know why Ama wasn’t included in that category but strangely found her name under the ‘Best Discovery’ category. Mind you, she was nominated for Best Actress in the previous year for her role in ‘Sinking Sands’.

2. Double Whammy!

I know this title may suggest that Majid Michel didn’t deserve winning two awards on the night, but far from it. My contention is that fact that he won Best Actor in a Leading Role and Best Actor in a Supporting Role, for his roles in ‘Somewhere in Africa’. In the movie Majid plays two different characters; one his usual self and the other a slightly darker Majid. But does this mean that each of them deserve separate nominations when indeed they are played by one actor? I can’t imagine Eddie Murphy winning an award for every character he played in Nutty Professor or Coming to America. He would be awarded for his performance and ability to play those roles as an actor. Surely we have some good actors in Ghana and it’s a shame that Ghana Movie Awards chose to award Majid and his shadow.

1. Hollywood takes over Ghana

Without a doubt the biggest question that everyone keeps asking me is how come, Hollywood actress Kimberly Elise won the Ghana Movie Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role. Coincidentally, I was the one that presented that award on the night. Somebody even copied a whole bio on the actress and pasted on my Facebook fan page to prove that Kimberly isn’t a Ghanaian. Well, I don’t have the answers and I won’t even pretend to have the answer. I will just leave the Ghana Movie Awards to explain it to everyone.

So there you have it, my top5 bloopers from the Ghana Movie Awards. Lets meet same time next year to see if the issues I pointed out would be repeated or whether we would have an improvement generally. http://www.ameyawdebrah.com/