TAVA raises the bar @ Nollywood

After successfully hosting the maiden edition of the awards,
organizers of the African Audio_Visual Awards (TAVA) said that
this year ’s award, which holds on the 23rd of July, 2010, is being
packaged to raise the bar in Nollywood.
Organisers made this disclosure last week during a media parley
held at O ’Jez Restaurant, Surulere, Lagos.
Initiator of the award, Mr. Okechukwu Ogunjiofor, said his
initiative is unique because while other awards celebrate actors
and actresses who are in front of the camera, TAVA gives
prominence to the people behind the pictures and sounds.
It also draws professionals in the music, film, television and
advertising industry under one platform to celebrate and honour
outstanding personalities in the presence of an ‘A List’ audience;
which includes diplomats, heads of government, actors, music
icons, television idols, social celebrities and captains of industries.
According to him, TAVA seeks to reward team work in creating
perfect pictures and perfect sounds. “We seek to create a
benchmark for professionalism towards an African audio_visual
renaissance where global pictures with universal sounds will make
Nollywood pictures enjoyed and celebrated, worldwide rather
than just being tolerated, ” he said.
Ogunjiofor, whose Living in Bondage laid the foundation for the
movie industry, Nollywood used the occasion to announce the
invitation of entries and nominations for the 2010 edition of TAVA .
Organisers began to take in entries from all over Africa on
Thursday, April 22. Receipt of applications will end on June 30.
“We have expanded the award categories due to the need to
accommodate more entries as we all know that the African
entertainment industry is expanding on a daily basis, ” he
informed.
Entries should be works done from June 2009 to June 2010.
Ogunjiofor also disclosed that July 1 through July 17 is for jury
nominations, while a shortlist of finalists will be made public seven
days to the event scheduled for MUSON Centre, Onikan, Lagos on
July 23.
The film maker added that what makes TAVA different from other
awards held in the country is because “it is a platform created to
harmonise all aspects of story_telling that employ pictures and
sounds, music videos, film, television and advertising
commercials. While other awards talk mainly of people in front of
the camera. ”
He noted that many things happen behind the scene in such
creative endeavours as film making, music, advertising and
television production. According to him, a successful art project in
any of these genres is a product of harmonious team work.
“If the work of a DOP (director of pictures) is not optimal, the
work of a director who is controlling the picture will not be good,
and if the producer did not hire the right director, the right lighting
person and others, the work that they seek to do will not be
optimal. We have never celebrated these people in Nigeria and
Africa and TAVA seeks to reward such people, ” he said.