By Wanjiku Mwaurah
Kenyans continue to stand out in African film circles bagging nominations at the second edition of the annual Africa Magic Viewers Choice Awards (AMVCA). In the 1st Edition of the AMVCAs in 2013, Kenya had 8 nominations. Out of these, Spielworks Media had 3 nominees in the following categories; Best supporting Actress, Best Art Director and Best Picture Editor. The Spielworks family and Kenya at large, went on to celebrate with the win of Maureen Koech who won Best Supporting Actress in the show Lies That Bind.
The awards by MultiChoice and AfricaMagic were created to recognize and celebrate the involvement of Pan African filmmakers in the future of storytelling within the continent. The AMVCA 2014 has a total of 28 awards in 26 categories with 9 of them being voted for by the voters. Spielworks Media is proud to be part of these celebrations with a total of 7 nominations.
The categories eligible for voting are:
- Best supporting actress
- Best supporting actor in a drama
- Best New Media- Online video
- Best Movie Comedy
- Best Movie drama
- Best actor in a comedy
- Best actress in a comedy
- Best actress in a drama
- Best actor in a drama
Spielworks Media got four nominations in the categories eligible for voting.
Veronica Waceke- 3B
If you caught the widely acclaimed play Wanawake wa Windsa, a Swahili adaptation of Shakespeare’s ‘Merry wives of Windsor’; then you must have come across Veronica Waceke. In the play produced by Keith Peterson, Veronica played the role of Mistress Ford, a married middle class lady who is courted by a new gentleman in town. She has had numerous plays under the Festival of Creative Arts, The Phoenix Players and The Theatre Company. In addition to her successful stage career she has also been on popular TV shows such as Machachari’, ‘Higher Learning’, ‘Guy centre’, ‘Be the Judge’ and ‘Makutano Junction’. Following her outstanding role in Higher Learning as Aida, an upbeat student who always knew the coolest joints and had flashy clothes and money, Veronica was nominated as best Actress in the AMVCA 2014. Vote for her with the code 3A
Best supporting Actress- Drama
Valerie Kimani – 4A
Valerie Kimani was propelled into fame after winning in the 2006 Tusker Project Fame and continued to soar high by releasing her debut album Baiskeli in 2007. Her stream of success continued when she got a role on the MTV production, ‘Shuga’ (2009), a show that was aimed at the African youth seeking to stir conversation about sex among young adults. In 2010, Valerie acted in the popular university drama Higher Learning. This songstress has continued in the U.S with her acting and singing career, becoming part of the Michael Jackson ONE; a show that fuses acrobatics, dance and visuals performed with the intention of taking the audience on a journey through the music and spirit of Michael Jackson.
Valerie has been nominated for best supporting actress. She had an exemplary performance as Kira on Higher Learning, a naïve but smart and hardworking student at Kilimanjaro University. Vote for her with the code 4A
David Mulwa - 5A
From a tender age of 7, David Mulwa had already embarked on a journey as a thespian that quickly became more than a pastime. He plunged into TV for the first time in 1967 with Joe de Graft’s Through a Film Darkly. Since then he has done a horde of plays including Aminata by Francis Imbuga, Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, A Play Of Giants by Wole Soyinka among others. He has been on several series such as The Agency, Nairobi Law, Higher Learning, Tabasamu. He also has a long list of movie credits that include notable features like The Great Elephant Escape, Ivory hunters and 100 Days among a host of others.
David Mulwa played the role of Professor Mashaka in the popular series Higher Learning. He is a conniving lecturer at Kilimanjaro University who forces girls to sleep with him for good grades. Vote for him with the code 5A
Dorothy Ghettuba and Oyunga Pala- 1D
Dorothy Ghetubba is typically known for her executive producer role at Spielworks Media but she occasionally dabbles in content creation. On a spur of creativity, Dorothy took a simple task of finding a new TV host and turned it into a novel reality show that was shot off a mobile phone. Oyunga Pala who heads the development arm of the production house put together the mechanics. Oyunga is better known for his print columns but has since ventured into content creation as Head Of Digital Content at Spielworks Media.
The duo conceptualized a crowdsourcing online campaign in search of the Next Big Host. The campaign was widely successful and revealed a break out star, Richie Roja who is now a co-host in a lifestyle show called The Scoop. The success of this campaign got Africa talking and Dorothy Ghettuba and Oyunga Pala earned their nominations for the prestigious Africa Magic Viewers Choice Awards (AMVCA). Vote for them with the code 1D
Spielworks Media got three additional nominations
The other non-voting categories where credit will be given are, directing, script writing, editing, make-up, lighting, sound, cinematography costume among others and the coveted honor of The industry Merit award and the Trailblazer of The Year Award.
Catherine Kibugi (Sumu La Penzi)
Kate Kibugi used to be a professional dancer with the widely acclaimed performance group Sarakasi Dancers. But her claim to fame came when she broke the Guinness World Record when she passed under a bar balanced at the height of 20 cm!
In the sizzling drama Sumu La Penzi a story about the lives of four urban ladies as they go about their adventures and mishaps trying to tie down high flying men to fund their expensive lifestyles; Kate dresses each character, portraying the character growth and bringing out elements that are distinct with each character. Kate gets to shine further after her nomination for best costume designer.
Ruth Ndulu (Lies That Bind)
Ruth Ndulu is popularly known for her role as Salome, the third wife of Richard Juma in the award-winning show Lies That Bind. In the riveting tale of intrigue, betrayal, suspense and drama around the Juma’s as they fight for inheritance she comes out as a strong wife ready to defend her family. She went beyond acting and started costume designing where she did a great job. She was nominated for Best Costume Designer and she will be up against Kate Kibugi of Spielworks Media.
Alex Gakumo (Sumu La Penzi)
Alex Gakumo has become a name to reckon in the TV Make up space. When he started out as a make-up artist in 2008, he worked with the national broadcaster KBC as a newsroom make-up artist for two years while venturing into the entertainment scene through partnering with music recording label Ogopa DJs. But his recent handiwork on Sumu La Penzi, the captivating drama centered on the lives of four urban women and he got nominated for best make-up artist at the 2014 AMVCAs.
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