Kannywood Awards 2013 seek uplift and unity
carmenmccain@ yahoo. com
IN June 2008, I arrived in Kano to continue PhD research on Hausa film and literature that I had begun in 2005 and 2006. arrived right in the middle of the Kano censorship crisis. Director and producer Hamisu Lamido Iyantama had been arrested in May 2008 upon his arrival back in Kano from the Zuma Film Festival in Abuja after winning the Best Social Issue film award for his film Tsintsiya, which featured a Hausa- Igbo love story and promoted the unity of Nigeria. The Kano State Censors Board charged him with supposedly marketing the film in Kano without censoring it, even though the filmmaker, in an attempt to avoid any controversy, had taken out ads on the radio saying that the film was not for sale in Kano. That year as the KSCB case against Iyantama dragged on, comedian Rabilu Musa ( d’an Ibro) and his now late colleague Lawal Kaura were also arrested for supposedly having an unregistered production company. Lawal Kaura, who denied the charges, told me they were rapidly charged, and in the absence of a lawyer were encouraged by mobile court workers to plead guilty so that the judge would “have mercy.” The judge sentenced them to two months in prison.
Meanwhile, although the attorney general of Kano said that the trial against Iyantama was “improper,” “incomplete,” and a “mistake,” Iyantama spent three months in prison before all charges against him were eventually dropped. 2007 to 2011 were years in which the flurry of films shot in Kano State ground to a halt. According to the KSCB’s own progress report, which they posted their website ( now defunct), thousands of other people were arrested and fined or jailed, including editors, singers, actors, marketers, vendors, viewing centre owners, and video game centre employees.
What a difference a few years can make! Last weekend, 23 November, the 2013 Kannywood Award Night was held at Sultan Bello Road in Kano. The once beleaguered Hamisu Lamido Iyantama was the Chairman of the organizing committee, which also included Hausa filmmakers Ismail Na’Abba Afakallah, Ado Abba, Baba Karami, Ishaq Sidi Ishaq and others. Dr. Ahmad Sarari, of Klassique Productions, came up with the idea for the event and coordinated the MTN sponsorship. Iyantama told me that they issued 1200 invitations and over 5000 came to the event. An industry, whose members were harassed and jailed only a few years before, drew a protective security force of over sixty police and soldiers. Politicians, including Kaduna Governor Ramalan Yero, and members of the aristocracy also attended the event. Iyantama asserted that the award night, which was themed “Paradigm Uplift and Unity” unified the industry, bringing together Hausa filmmakers from far flung corners of Nigeria. Delegations came from Abuja, Kaduna, Katsina, Niger, Plateau, Sokoto, and other states. A Hausa film producer from Accra, Ghana, I know, even called me and told me she was attending the event.
The secretary of the organizing committee Ismail Afakallah told me that they prepared the event for three reasons. First to show that the film profession is a respectable profession that is owned by not only the filmmakers but also by their audiences, and that the films are showing Hausa culture and religion. Second, he said, it was to unify Kannywood and bring people together from Lagos to Bauchi to Kano, to show that “there are no differences between us. Kannywood is one.” Third, he said they invited important people in society including governors and members of the aristocracy, to show the world that “people agree with what we do. There are people who look to us as teachers, and as people who teach about how to progress.”
A jury chaired by director Ahmad Alkanawy, including Sanusi Shehu, Balaraba Ramat Yakubu, Bashir Mudi Yakasai and others as members, handed out awards that included Ali Nuhu as Best Actor in Matan Gida, Nafisa Abdullahi as Best Actress in Ahlal Kitab, Aminu Saira as best director for Wata Hudu, Rabi’u Ibrahim Daushe as best comic actor in Aliya. Tanimu Akawu as best villain in Jarumin Maza, Sayyada M. Adam as Best Kid Actor in Sultan. Saddam A. Koli and Adam A. Zango were honoured as best editors for Ta’addanci, and Faruk Sayyadi Garba won best set design for Dan Marayan Zaki. Best Picture Wani Gari directed by Yassin Auwal won big with awards for Best Film, Aminu One Eye as Best Costumier, and Nazir M. Ahmed for best soundtrack. Daga Allah Ne also picked up multiple awards for Iliyasu Abdulmumini Tantiri’s Best Original Story, Yakubu M. Komo’s Best Screenplay, Aminu Musa Dan Jalo’s Best Visual Effects, and Sadi Sidi Sharifai’s Best Lyrics. There are too many awards to list here, but I am also proud that one of my former students of Mass Communication at Bayero University, Nomiis Gee, won the best Hausa Hiphop Rapper award.
The awards did not only focus on the best performances and film craft of 2013, but reached out to those who had contributed to the rise of the industry. Iyantama noted that old television stars, who helped develop the drama tradition that became the Hausa film industry, were honoured with lifetime achievement awards including Kasim Yero, Samanja, Audu Kano Karkuzu and others. Other early filmmakers were also given lifetime achievement awards, including Ibrahim Mandawari, Sani Mu’azu, and Iyantama himself. Several politicians were honoured for the assistance they had given the film industry, including the Governor of Kano, Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso, who started a film academy in Kano; the governor of Kaduna Ramalan Yero, for providing a peaceful environment welcoming to filmmakers; and National Assembly representative Aminu Goro for his advocacy for including Kannywood in the Nollywood Act. Professor Abdalla Uba Adamu was also honoured for his exhaustive research on the Hausa film industry, which has promoted knowledge of Hausa cultural production around the world. Al- Amin Ciroma of Leadership was given the Best Entertainment Journalist award, and Fim Magazine received an award for the Best Magazine on Kannywood.
Afakallah maintained that they were seeking unity for all of Nigeria. The Award Night, he said, “shows that Kannywood has come to stay. People who abuse us or see us as worthless people, the world have given an answer that they love filmmakers and they are together with us.”
As addendum, beyond the glitz and glamour of award nights, even those who do not watch the films can be grateful to the film industry for another reason. Looking to the future, Afakallah told me that awards
an are also meant to demonstrate the strength of a Hausa language in the world. And indeed, Nigerian language film industries are helping grow and strengthen Nigerian languages, many of which are under threat. This week, an article in the Vanguard noted that Esogban of Benin, Chief David Edebiri was lamenting that the Bini or Edo language was at risk of extinction, yet National Film and Video Censors Board statistics show that the Bini film industry has been steadily growing in the past few years. In 2011, there were 73 Bini films released making it 6.41% of the Nigerian film industry in 2011. If people are buying and watching these films, the language is far less likely to go extinct than other languages in which creative materials are not being produced. With Hausa between 20 and 29% percent of the national film industry and Yoruba films between 37and 54% of the industry, these are languages that don’t have anything to fear in the near future. The Kannywood Awards rightly honour artists who are creating and developing the Hausa language and provide an example for others who want to promote their own languages.
Postscript: As I speak optimistically about the advances in a Hausa film industry that is celebrating unity, let us not forget the ongoing violence that continues to take innocent lives. Around forty people were killed in attacks on four villages in Barkin Ladi LGA in Plateau State early this week. May God punish those who attack the innocent, comfort those in mourning, and bring us peace.