Ghana Movie Awards not dead – Phred Nuamah

Last year, when the much anticipated yet criticised event on the Ghanaian entertainment calendar, Ghana Movies Awards (GMA) didn’t come off in December as usual, and there was no word from organisers, many were those who believed it had eventually died. 

But founder of the awards scheme, Mr Phred Nuamah, has revealed it is still on course and has been rescheduled for Saturday, March 25, 2023 at the Accra International Conference Centre(AICC).

Since its inception in 2011, the annual GMA which celebrates stakeholders in the local movie industry has been bedeviled with a number of problems and has had its fair share of criticisms from industry players.

Speaking in an interview with Graphic Showbiz on Tuesday, January 31, Mr Nuamah outlined some of the reasons the event did not come off last year.

 According to Mr Nuamah, GMA was still on course. “But it didn’t come off last year because of the World Cup, knowing that the tournament was going to take the euphoria from the main events in December including the awards, we decided to push it to March.

“So last year’s event, which is the 13th edition, will be held on March 25, 2023, at the AICC. It will be spectacular because there will be something very different on the Red Carpet”, he added.

When asked if he was still considering selling the GMA franchise as he stated some time ago, Mr Nuamah answered, “Yes and No. Yes because we all need money and no because it is a very difficult award scheme to manage, it is not just about the money for me so I am very skeptical about how well the brand will be managed by the new handlers.

“The truth of the matter is that, it is a very expensive brand, take the plaques, for instance, each cost about $850 so if you give the brand to someone who is not ready to spend money, all the efforts to bring the brand this far will just go down the tubes.

 “Take a look at all the award schemes in Ghana, it is only the Ghana Movie Awards where we haven’t changed our plaques since inception and we pride ourselves in that.

“Organising the event is very cost intensive, we spend about GHc1.2M per edition and we want to maintain that standard. Companies that have expressed interest in buying the franchise have chickened out when they consider how much they have to spend in putting it all together. We will rather be in charge than give it out and watch it ran down”, he said.

On how he has managed to keep the awards going without sponsorship, Mr Nuamah said, “A lot comes from me personally because of the love for the industry, when you are passionate about something, it is difficult to let go”.