In an interview with The Standard, he explained: “I am involved with Africa Magic Viewer’s Choice awards which is in its third year. It is equivalent to the Oscars in the US which seeks to identify talents in film making in terms of technical aspects and casting. Africa Magic is a channel owned by M-Net which is one of the biggest multi-channel companies in South Africa. Five of their channels are devoted to African films. With the number of African films produced every year, they are able to fill that space playing them 24 hours.
“Three years ago, they came up with an award system in which they will look at these films and award them in terms of technical expertise and editing for which judges are selected from a few countries in Africa. I was chosen based on work I have done and interviews I have carried out with them. Other judges come from Nigeria, Kenya and Uganda but mainly from South Africa itself. We go out to Johannesburg for ten days and view all the submissions we have received. Every October advertisements are put out calling for submissions which are closed by November and brought to look at them in 27 different categories and judge them. Then we make a shortlist of finalists who are invited to Lagos in March where the award actually takes place. There, the three nominees will be announced and the winner receives a trophy as well as a cash prize.”
Dilating on his role in more detail, the former GRTS video editor said: “I have been informed that I alone will be judging 3 of the 27 categories namely best writer of a comedy in a movie or TV series, best short film and best new media online video. I start with the latter today. With 100s of entries I am in for a rollercoaster ride! It means a lot to me personally because I am a professional film-maker which I have been doing for more than two decades. I have a lot of experience in terms of analysis of creativity and technical expertise of films. This creates for me an opportunity to be among my peers who are also film-makers in other countries in Africa particularly South Africa. Being among my peers to look at the content, creativity and technical expertise of the films gives me professional delight. I want Gambians to specialise in film-making and to do it professionally with attention to all its different departments. I will use this opportunity to help young Gambian film-makers to the best of my ability.”
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