Ama K. Abebrese, John Dumelo, nominated for Africa Film Development Awards 2013

Bubbly actress Ama K. Abebrese and fine actor John Dumelo are among some Ghanaian personalities who have been nominated for this year’s Africa Film Development Awards (AFDA).

The two, together with directors, Leila Djansi and Shirley Frimpong-Manso, got nominations in the annual awards which will be held on June 29, 2013 in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania.

The Pan African Film Development and Advancement Foundation (PAFDAF) through its registered project, African Film Development Foundation (AFDF) organizes the AFDA.

“The event marks a reawakening of the need for African sensitive filmmaking ventures. It will also further such sentiments in Diaspora Africa filmmaking projects from concept to exhibition practices,” organizers said in a statement.

Ama K. Abebrese got a nomination in the Best African Actress category for her role in the movie Ties That Bind.

She will have to beat off competition from Mozambican Eva Mugalela for Virgin Margarida, Moroccan Houda Rihana for Rough Hands, South African Florence Masebe for Elelwani, and Nigerian Omotola Jalade Ekeinde for Ije.
Actor John Dumelo was nominated in the Best African Actor in a Supporting Role category also for his role in Ties That Bind.

His competition for that award are Egyptian Salah Al-Hanafy for Winter of Discontent, South African Thomas Gumede for Otelo Burning, Keyan Olwenya Maina for Nairobi Half Life, and Nigerian Joseph Benjamin for The Contract.

Director Leila Djansi nabbed nominations in the Best African Director and Best African Producer categories for her movie Ties That Bind while the movie also got a nomination in Best African Film category.

Movie director and producer Shirley Frimpong-Manso received nominations in the Most Outstanding African Film Maker and Best Screenplay in an African Film categories for Perfect Picture.

The 2013 Africa Movie Academy Awards (AMAAs) Best Short Film award winner Akosua Adoma Owusu was also nominated in the Best African Filmmaker in Diaspora category.

Hollywood movie stars, Morgan Freeman and Whoopi Goldberg will also be picking up a Special Recognition Award of Excellence as an Actor.

Other activities lined for the Africa Film Development Awards, which is under the theme: In the spirit of Africa, include, Lectures/Symposiums and on African Cinema and African Cultural Night all on June 28.

The awards after party will be on June 30 at Zanzibar Island, Tanzania.

Story by Joyonline.com

Nana Ama McBrown ‘Steals’ Emilia Brobbey’s Man

Nana Ama McBrown ‘Steals’ Emilia Brobbey’s Man

Close friends Nana Ama McBrown and Emilia Brobbey have allowed a man to come in between their friendship.

The two who have been close friends for a very long time do not see eye to eye anymore because Nana has betrayed their friendship by taking advantage of problems in Emilia Brobbey’s marital home and has consciously taken over Emilia’s husband.

Emelia Brobbey’s husband sent her away from her marital home to go back to her parents after he caught his dear wife (Emilia) in a hotel room with another man in what according to Emilia is a set up to destroy their marriage.

Emilia’s husband threatened to divorce Emilia because she cannot be trusted and whiles she was trying to explain and apology for her husband to accept her back with the help of her parents and her best friend Nana Ama McBrown little did she know that her best friend was taking advantage of the situation to steal her man.

This is the scenario in the first movie which stars McBrown to be released after her fatal accident titled “Madanfo” (My Friend). Nana Ama and Emilia Brobbey are best friends in real life and they played the role of best friends in the movie so well until McBrown decided to betray their friendship with her selfish interest.Emilia Brobbey’s father Ernest Opoku played by Kwadjo Nkansah aka Lil Win a shameless womanizers who takes delight in spending on young ladies of his daughter’s age only to lour them to bed, even added salt to injury when he went to ask his son-in-law to pay a ridiculous amount of money as compensation for leaving his daughter instead of apologizing on behalf of his daughter who was at fault.

Now will Jennifer’s (Emilia Brobbey’s) husband marry his wife’s best friend? What will Jennifer who trusts his friend so much do if she realise that the same friend who claimed she was going to plead on her behalf has ended up taking her man. How will Silvia’s (Nana Ama McBrown’s) marriage to his best friend’s husband end?

The movie which is a mix of romance, suspense, drama, action and comedy is about friendship and how some friend can betray their best friends because envy, jealousy, greed and selfishness.

There are several real life and moral lessons to learn from this movie. “Madanfo” directed by Theophilous Amoabeng and Produced by Ebenazer Ankrah also features Clement Sarfo, Akyere Bruwaa and Bernard Nyarko.

The must watch movie will be released in all movie shops across the nation from Monday April 22, 2013.

Story by peacefmonline.com

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"I’d Love To Play Saint\" - Adjetey Anang

"I’d Love To Play Saint" - Adjetey Anang

Time is an important factor in business and many who want to be taken seriously are quick to blurt out the famous “time is money” line just to drive home the point.

Those who stick to time are often taken seriously even by the many whom constantly struggle with the Ghana Man Time (GMT) syndrome.

Popular actor Adjetey Anang, aka Pusher, is known by many to be a time-stickler and an actor who takes his profession seriously. In an interview with me, the actor revealed that working with some old hands of the acting profession had taught him some strong work ethics.

Giving reasons for which he has often been highly commended by most of the filmmakers he’s worked with, he noted “I think, to a very large extent, it’s the training I received. It goes way back to when I was at the National Theatre with the national drama company, ‘Abibigroma’ where I begun some serious theater work with regards to stage.

I had the likes of David Dontoh, Edinam Atatsi, the late Abbey Okine, Solomon Sampah, Dzifa Glikpoe, and the list goes on”. Pusher said the kind of seriousness these actors attached to acting, and the strict training he was later exposed to at the School of Performing Arts, naturally taught him rules of engagement in acting.

The often calm and unassuming actor warmed his way into the hearts of viewers when he played Pusher, a notorious area boy who unleashed mischief, in Ivan Quashigah’s television series Things We Do For Love. So, what does this calm dude do to switch to the ‘Pusher mode?’

He said he always took time to critically study the character he plays. “Depending on the demands of the character or role, I’d go as far as going into the community where the character should live to watch what happens there. A typical example was when I was given the character Pusher, which I thought was enormous because I thought I could play the character BB better.

“But after the director threw a challenge to me, I said look let’s do this in a different way…this is a loud character, a street kind of guy and so I went to sit in a bar somewhere around Chorkor just to listen to people and see how they carry themselves around…you’ll be amazed at the things I picked up, which I used to build up the character”.

Pusher said that he recently played a psychiatrist in the movie Letters To My Mother, and that in order to fit in that role, he researched the renowned Ghanaian psychiatrist, Dr. Joseph Bediako Asare. “I was looking for writings on Dr. Asare just to know about him, what people have said about him, what kind of background he’s coming from and the challenges he faces in his job.Such information has a way of guiding you with what you’re doing, and so it added up to the role I played”, he revealed.

Perhaps jolted by the unexpected nature of questioning, the actor let out a brief laugh when I asked which one role he’d so much love to play. He said “one role that I’ve been looking forward to playing is the role of a saint…one of my great actors of all time is Anthony Hopkins (Hannibal) because of the eccentricity this guy has.

“In playing saint, who are normally not too loud, you realize that these are people who speak from within their soul…the passion, the intensity even when they’re upset…you don’t have them breaking glasses all over the place…but when they’re upset you feel it from in their eyes, how their lips shiver or tremble…their ears sticking out and all that. And I thought that to be able to bring out certain qualities of Anthony Hopkins, playing a saint would help me bring out these qualities that will be different from the other physical and loud roles I have played”.

Pusher has been criticised by Ms T-i-i-l-i, a film critic, for accepting roles that appear to be mediocre and that, according to the critic, could compromise his professionalism. When asked what he made of the criticism the actor said “I have always welcomed critics and opinions from all walks of life. One thing that I have done in the past is really to be quick to reject scripts that I thought was below standard and would not improve me.

“But then I thought that there are so many ills in our industry…time consciousness is a problem, attitude and discipline is a problem. Now you can’t always go out there and stand on a pulpit to teach these things or call for seminars to talk about them. I thought that there was a gulf between me and our industry in the sense that I‘m always found to be doing the Sparrow kind of movie, and people thought I was looking down on other productions.

“There have been calls from my fans to spread out a bit, but Ithink that accepting some of these scripts may be just going in there for the money” Pusher continued that although he wouldn’t say he’s perfect, some Production Managers and Directors have re-adjusted their ways to appear more professional because he’d shown good example. “For me I look back and I haven’t regretted it. I have left something in there that I hope to continue”, he said.

Story by Nii Kpani

I've been bounced five times over love - John Dumelo

With all his good looks and fame, many admirers of talented actor, John Dumelo, would take it for granted that the award-winning actor would be spoilt for choice as far as romance is concerned. But no, John is not a Cassanova riding on the crest of love.

According to him, he has endured more than the average number of disappointments that men his age go through. “Five times I’ve had my heart broken since I started dating and none had been my fault.

“The ladies either ask me to stop acting because they can’t stand seeing me play romantic roles on screen or they complain that I have too many female friends which make them uncomfortable.”

Now, John says that, he is finding it difficult to choose a partner since he claims he tried his best to live up to the expectation of the ladies he dated in the past but things didn’t work out. “I cannot tell which lady is real or fake, who has good intentions for me and who has not. So I am being very careful this time around”.

John told Showbiz, it would have been easier for him to choose a life partner if he was not a well known actor. “Because of my popularity, ladies can pretend they are soul mates and later show me their true colours when we finally settle down in marriage and that is what I want to prevent. I want a woman who will love me for who I am and not what I am”

Asked who is his kind of girl, John, who is popular for his sterling performances in many movie such as The King Is Mine, Perfect Picture, Adams Apples, Prince’s Bride, Kingdom Apart and Chelsea said that physically he would go for a beautiful woman who is well endowed in the bust region and who must also be intelligent.

John said that although he is seeing someone currently, they are yet to decide on compatibility but he hopes she is the right one after all.

He said that if things do not work out this time, it would take him a long time to date again. “I am growing and need to settle down very soon, so it will take me a very long time to settle on another lady if this relationship doesn’t work out. Even though I haven’t known her for long, I hope and pray she is the right one”.

Apart from movie acting, John Dumelo also runs a film school known as John Dumelo Film Academy and has a clothing line J.Melo.

About his movie career, John who has over 80 movies to his credit said he is working hard to break into Hollywood. He however encouraged his colleague actors to do other business apart from acting. “I have always said that as an actor, one won’t stay on top forever so while you have the fame now, do something different so that when you are not reigning you have other things doing”.

John has several awards to his credit. After winning Joy FM's Best Ghanaian Actor in 2009, he won Africa's Most Outstanding Actor at the Afro Australian Movies and Music Awards in Australia and also won Best African Actor Award at the African Entertainment Awards in Malaysia.

John had his primary education at Christ the King International School in Accra and then continued to Achimota School and further studied at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology where he read Civil Engineering.

Story by www.citifmonline.com

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