Cameroon: The Fisherman’s Diary Wins Big at AMA, Golden Movie Awards

By Boris Esono Nwenfor

Cameroonian movie of the year The Fisherman’s Diary’s rise shows no sign of stopping. The movie fronted by Kang Quintus and Faith Fidel has won big at the Golden Movie Awards in Ghana and the African Movie Academy Awards (AMAA) in Nigeria. At the two awards, the Film snapped up 10 awards.

At the AMAA, which is seen as the “African Oscars”, The Fisherman’s Diary picked up 2 awards after being nominated in 9 categories. Faith Fide won Best Young Actress, while Enah Johnscott and Buh Melvin “Baba Prox” won the award for Best Screenplay.

For the Golden Movie Awards in Ghana, the movie was nominated in 15 categories, succeeded in winning 8. Kang Quintus and Faith Fidel, lead actor and actress were the two standout winners of the Golden Movie Awards.

Kang Quintus who was nominated as Best Actor did succeed in winning the award. He also went home with the award for Best Sound Editor.  Faith Fidel took home two awards, one for Best Actress and Discovery of the Year.

The Fisherman’s Diary who was nominated for Best Film did also succeed in winning the award for Best Film. Enah Johnscott and Buh Melvin “Baba Prox” won the award for Best Screenplay. Rene Etta took home the award for Best Cinematographer; the Best indigenous Film category was won by The Fisherman’s Diary.

“We have made waves in 29 countries and 6 nominations in a festival like that with other great films in Africa and we dominating the entire festival is an honour for not just me but the entire country Cameroon. It tells us that the Cameroonian cinema is there and we are ready to compete with any other country and not just in Africa but the world at large,” Kang Quintus told Pan African Visions after the nominations were made public.

“… It was a lot of time and talent that went into the project and this is just a reflection of hard work that went into the film.”

An insight into The Fisherman’s Diary

The movie directed by Enah Johnscott and produced by Kang Quintus is a storey of a 12-year-old Ekah (Faith Fidel) who got inspired by Malala Yousalzai, the youngest noble prize winner.

She is determined to go to school in a village of fishermen where it is considered as taboo. He drives to break this adage gets her embroiled with her father Solomon (Kang Quintus) experience with girl child education, critiqsite reported.

The film features other actors such as Ramses Nouah, Onyama Laura, Neba Godwill, Mayohchu and Daphne Njie.

The film has won best film in India and New York, picking up Best director, best film, best soundtrack and best production nominations at the prestigious PAMA in Paris, France.