The 74th British Academy Film Awards took place at the Royal Albert Hall in London on Sunday night, and at a time when awards shows are still a pretty distant affair, Africans had a lot to celebrate. Two African productions, one from South Africa, another from Nigeria, walked away with two prizes in their respective categories.
British-Nigerian film “Rocks” wins Best Casting
If you’ve been following the African film circuit over the past few months you will have picked up on the buzz which Rocks has been receiving. The latest story from Nollywood was written by British-Nigerian playwright, Theresa Ikoko follows a British-Nigerian adolescent nicknamed Rocks (Bukky Bakray) forced to take on adult preoccupations when her mother suddenly abandons her and her younger brother.
Amid such precarious circumstances, she finds encouragement and affection in her group of loyal girlfriends. Earlier this year, “Rocks” won the top prize at the British Independent Film Awards, as well as trophies for two of its supporting stars, Kosar Ali and D’angelou Osei Kissiedu.
The film walked away with the “Best Casting” Award at the BAFTAs where it had been nominated in an impressive 7 categories.
South Africa’s “My Octopus Teacher” wins Best Documentary
South Africans also had reason to celebrate when a film from Mzansi walked away with the prize for Best Documentary. The Netflix doccie, My Octopus Teacher is directed by Pippa Ehrlich and James Reed, which documents a year spent by filmmaker Craig Foster forging a relationship with a wild common octopus in a South African kelp forest.
South Africans will be hoping that the film can repeat its success at the Academy Awards which will take place later this month.
Worthy mentions
South African film Moffie has been receiving plenty of critical acclaim across the world and South Africans will have been gutted to see the movie narrowly lose out on the Outstanding Debut By A British Writer, Director or Producer award.
