Country Director for the Africa Movie Academy Awards (AMAA) in Ghana, Judith Oluwole Kuwornu, has responded the video by actress Gloria Sarfo, lashing out at the organisers of the awards, following the challenges some Ghanaian film makers faced with their flight tickets while leaving for the event in Nigeria.
According to Judith, although she admits that what happened was unfortunate, she sent a message of apology to Gloria Sarfo.
“I have sent her a message of apology but she kept on doing this but that’s her problem. I mean we are different people from different backgrounds, where we come from and how we are trained. I’m sorry this happened. I’m also sorry that it’s going this way.
Because [this is] somebody that is close to me and could not have communicated with me. ‘Judith, what happened?’ and all that. She never did that. All I saw was that she was going all over the place. But it’s okay, you know bad news is also sometimes good news. Maybe you are trying to reignite the face of AMAA for us in our own way. We take it like that,” she told Andy Dosty in an interview on Hitz FM‘s Daybreak Hitz.
Judith also mentioned that despite the incident, some members of the team that were stranded at the airport, reached out to her.
“There were so many veterans that were there who called and said ‘Judith we understand this thing so don’t worry. If we get to come, we will come, if we don’t, don’t worry because you have been doing this with us for the past 20 years , we have never experienced this’”, she added.
She further indicated that there are some challenges that cannot control as an organisation “because you don’t have the personal airline or jet that you can put your people on and bring them down.”
Asked what really the issue was and who was responsible for the faux pas, she said the organisers would later issue a communique to that effect.
Gloria Sarfo on a tirade over AMAA flight challenges
On Sunday November 3, 2024, Ghanaian actress Gloria Sarfo, in a social media video, vented her spleen on the organisers of the Africa Movie Academy Awards (AMAA) over the flight issues.
The 20th edition of the Africa Movie Academy Awards (AMAAs) was held in Lagos, Nigeria on Saturday November 2, 2024.
According to Gloria Sarfo, the Ghanaian filmmakers who had been invited to attend the award ceremony were stranded at the Kotoka International Airport in Accra.
Gloria recounts in the 15 minutes, 13 seconds social media video that the tickets given to them by the organisers could not give them access to board the flight.
Over fifteen film makers and media practitioners including Abdul Salam Mumuni, Frank Rajah, Pascal Amanfo and Akorfa Adjeani faced this challenge.
She said the invitation came with promises of a fully-sponsored trip with flight details and an itinerary.
“You can’t tell me that you are giving me an all-expense paid trip and then I get stranded at the airport. It doesn’t work that way. Like I said, I had a lot of work to do. I missed a movie set, a feature film by a colleague. I missed a short film, I missed an awards night that I was nominated, I missed going for my movie premiere,” she said.
To cap it all, Gloria noted that there was no communication from AMAA even after they got to know they had no confirmed flights.
She was disappointed that the organisers did not show them respect by putting them through such an unpleasant situation which happened on November 1, 2024..
“It was embarrassing,” she said.
Due to this, a majority of the Ghanaian team travelling to Nigeria for the event could not make it. Fourteen (14) out of about forty (40) people that were supposed to have travelled to Nigeria for the award event could make it.
Meanwhile, Ghanaian actress Jackie Appiah won the Best Actress in Lead Role for the movie ‘Red Carpet’, while Harry Bentil went home with the Best Debut feature film by Director award for the movie ‘Letters to Goddo.’
Source: Kwame Dadzie
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