The nominees for the 2015 edition of the Africa Movie Academy Awards (AMAA 2015) were revealed at an invitation-only nomination dinner this weekend in Beverly Hills. AMAA announced South Africa as the host country for the 2015 event, which will be held outside Nigeria for the first time since the awards were founded in 2004.

Some of the brightest stars in the African entertainment world mingled with such Hollywood celebrities as Academy Award winner Louis Gossett, Jr., Ja’Net DuBois, Lynn Whitfield and Sheryl Lee Ralph. Nigerian stars Omotola Jalade Ekeinde (“Ije”) and Patience Ozokwor (“Mama G”) attended, as did South Africa’s Terry Pheto (“Tsotsi”) and Ghanaian Lydia Forson (“Phone Swap”). 

A record-breaking 800 films were submitted for the AMAA 2015, the awards’ 11th consecutive edition. Submissions included entries from established and emerging cineastes from the continent and the diaspora, cementing the Africa Movie Academy Awards’ status as the premiere recognition platform for African film globally.

A full list of nominations is available via the Africa Movie Academy Award Facebook page, however nominations highlights include the following:

Award for Best Documentary:  "Egypt Modern Pharaohs" (Egypt); "The Dream of Shahrazad" (South Africa); "Nelson Mandela, The Myth and Me" (South Africa); "Beats of The Antonov" (Sudan) and "The Supreme Price" (Nigeria/USA)

Award for Best Film in an African Language:  "Timbuktu" (Mauritania); "Triangle Going to America" (Ethiopia); "Cheetanah" (Nigeria); "Juliet and Romeo" (Burkina Faso) and "iNumber Number" (South Africa)

Award for Best Director:  Theodros Teshome Kebede – "Triangle Going to America;" Theo Nel – "iNumber Number;" Abderrahmane Sissako – "Timbuktu;" Phillipe Lacote – "Run" and Kunle Afolayan – "October"

Award for Best Short Film:  "Stories of Our Lives" (Kenya); "Aissa’s Story" (Nigeria); "Gulped of the Blue Sea" (Togo); "Memoir of a Honest Voice" (Sierra Leone) and "Twaaga" (Burkina Faso)

Award for Best Film:  "Run" (Cote d’Ivoire); "Timbuktu" (Mauritania); "iNumber Number" (South Africa); "Triangle Going to America" (Ethiopia) and "October 1"

Abderrahmane Sissako’s critically-acclaimed "Timbuktu" was recognized with 11 nominations, while Phillipe Lacote’s "Run" and Kunie Afolayan’s "October 1"

AMAA 2015 also shared details of a ground-breaking digital-first partnership with social networking platform Facebook. A commercial and cultural partnership leveraging AMAA’s relationships in African film and entertainment and Facebook’s global platform, the two will work together to drive digital impact in film and entertainment as Facebook prepares to launch its presence in Africa. With 1.4 billion active users, 120 million of whom are in Africa, the Facebook partnership offers the opportunity to further amplify the reach and impact of AMAA and African film by also offering African talent and films opportunities to engage with users through official verified pages on Facebook.

For further updates and breaking news on the 2015 Africa Movie Academy Awards, visit AMAA’s social networks on Facebook and Twitter. 

The 2015 edition of the Africa Movie Academy Awards will be held on Saturday, September 26th in Johannesburg.