Around and about moviedom in one week | The Guardian Nigeria News

Except for the news of the untimely death of notable Nollywood actor Leo Mezie, things were looking up and good in moviedom this second quarter. There was the all glamour Africa Magic Viewers Choice Awards (AMVCA), which successfully held on Sunday and then there were news of a number of acquisition by one of the big streaming platforms Amazon Prime.

The spotlight this week is on developments around and about moviedom…

Lens on Winners of AMVCA Acting category
Some continental screen-acting champions emerged at the award ceremony of the 8th edition of the Africa Magic Viewer’s Choice Awards (AMVCA), which held on Sunday night. Some screen acting celebrities including Funke Akindele, Osas Ighodaro and Stan Eze were honoured at the television and film award ceremony, which held at Eko Hotel and Suites.

The ceremony attracted the best of the best of the creative industry. Actress and show host Osas Ighodaro who was adjudged the best dressed celebrity of the award ceremony got her first AMVCA diadem when the star of Ratnik was declared Best Actress in a Drama. Osas got the award for her role in Rattlesnake as directed by Ramsey Nouah Jnr.

Rattlesnake also earned Ramsey Nouah the directing diadem of the 8th AMVCA. For the actor in a drama, the audience settled for leading actor Stan Eze. The actor received the award for his performance in the playpoint remake of Amaka Igwe’s Rattlesnake.

Star actress Funke Akindele got the award for Best Actress in a Comedy for her inimitable performance in the box office hit Omo Ghetto: The Saga, while Samuel Perry who is popular as ‘Broda Shaggi’ was the audience choice for Best Actor in a Comedy. ‘Broda Shaggi’ got the award for his role in the comic movie Dwindle.

Beloved actress Omowunmi Dada was the audience favourite to win the Best Supporting Actress award. The Oloture star got the award for her believable performance in the movie Country Hard. The last audience choice award for acting went to star actor Odunlade Adekola. The actor received the Best Supporting Actor (Movie or TV Series) for his role in Jankariwo.

Other winners of the night include Best Indigenous Language (Hausa) – Rogers Ofime (Voiceless), Best Africa Magic Original Comedy Series- The Johnsons (Roger Ofime), Best TV Series (Drama or Comedy) – The Mystic River (Rogers Ofime), Best Online Content Creator- Oga Sabinus, Best Overall Movie- Amina (Izu Ojukwu, Okey Ogunjiofor), Best Director (Movie) – Ramsey Nouah (Rattlesnake) and Industry merit award- Taiwo Ajayi Lycett

Light Dims on Leo Mezie

NOLLYWOOD is mourning again. The industry has lost another illustrious member, Leonard Chimezie Onyemachi, popularly known as Leo Mezie. The Nollywood actor passed on last Saturday in Abuja, after years of battling kidney disease.

Aged 46, Leo reportedly died almost a week after undergoing a kidney transplant. It was Nollywood actress, Chioma Toplis, who broke and confirmed Mezie’s death on her Instagram page on Monday. The sultry actress had confirmed in the post that the actor died on Saturday in Abuja while recovering from a kidney transplant.

She wrote: “Actor Leo Mezie is dead. He died on Saturday in Abuja while recovering from a kidney transplant. His corpse has been moved to Umuahia, his hometown. RIP Leo.”

Best known for playing the role of a Prince in some Nollywood movies, Mezie had his first kidney transplant over four years ago, and had another one last week, but began to develop complications and died on Saturday.

Born in January, the actor started acting in 1996 when he joined Nollywood. He had his break in 2003 when he featured in the critically acclaimed movie Labista starring Jerry Williams and Ernest Asuzu. Ernest passed on last year. Some of the movies in his creative pouch include Total War, Close Enemy, and Empty Throne.

The ‘Talk’ Around U.K Of Nollywood
STAR actress Eucharia Anunobi is in the news. You will be wrong to think that it is about the believable performance she put up in Bolanle Austeen-Peters recent blockbuster Man of God.

The news, though the actress, producer and later day evangelist has vehemently denied it, is that the actress is alleged to be dating a younger actor named Lucky Oparah. Till date, the rumour is that the veteran actress who is in her 50’s is in a relationship with the 27 year old newbie. In fact, the news is all over the town.

An industry observer noted that the actress might have fuelled the news when she sent the young actor a poetic birthday message via text and whatsapp. The text sourced from the popular Naija News website reads: “HAPPY BIRTHDAY my love. I hope you have a wonderful birthday today. You have made my life interesting and special. Thank you for being in my life, I love you always my love. Your birthday card is below and your gift is in your bank. Love You Lucky.”

But the actress has denied the rumour saying it was demonic and disgusting and that “it is the height of witchcraft.”

Once married to a former footballer Ekwu, Eucharia has remained unmarried since their marriage crashed near a decade ago.