Young Filmmakers Day opened the week of the 12th Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards on Wednesday, 6 May at the Multichoice Studio in Ilupeju, Lagos, as organizers and industry figures set the stage for the main ceremony scheduled for March 9 at Eko Hotel and Suites.
The industry gathering put faces and numbers on what will be a crowded ballot: Daniel Etim-Effiong’s debut film The Herd and the film Gingerr each lead with nine nominations, My Father’s Shadow arrived with seven nominations after winning Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer at the 79th British Academy Film Awards, and Behind The Scenes remains the highest-grossing Nollywood film of all time — all titles that are expected to shape conversation when the Amvca 2026 winners are announced.
At Multichoice’s Ilupeju studio, a Johnnie Walker–hosted panel featuring Stan Nze, Amarachukwu Onoh and Abiodun Odu, moderated by James Bentong Mbu, underscored the event’s emphasis on younger creators; Johnnie Walker Blonde is also backing the Best Digital Content Creator category at the main awards, a sponsorship the brand used to frame a discussion about how stories travel today.
Oyetola Akeredolu, speaking to a room of emerging directors and writers, summed up the mood: "Our philosophy is built on the world of unexpected expressions." He added, "What we see with young filmmakers today is a willingness to experiment, to try new formats and to tell stories in ways that feel natural to them." He warned that "that willingness to evolve is important because the industry itself is changing," and pointed out that "a lot of today’s creators are building audiences across different platforms at the same time, and that is shaping how stories travel."
The nominations reflect that split. The Herd, which tackles insecurity and banditry in Nigeria, arrived as a heavy, topical title and as Daniel Etim-Effiong’s first film, while Kemi Adetiba’s mini-series To Kill A Monkey — which drew major online attention after its Netflix release and featured Bucci Franklin as the character Oboz — represents the streaming-era, serialized storytelling now finding its way onto awards ballots. Gingerr, starring Kiekie, Bisola Aiyeola, Bolaji Ogunmola and Wunmi Toriola, sits alongside those projects as another multi-nominated contender.
Context for the week is straightforward: AMVCA organizers have framed the festival to include several events before the awards night itself, and this year’s schedule again mixes industry-facing sessions with celebration. The supplementary program around the 12th edition has included Young Filmmakers Day and will run through Icons Night, Cultural Day and the awards ceremony at Eko Hotel and Suites on March 9.
The tension at the heart of the week is how an awards body balances commercial success, critical breakthroughs and the new creator economy. Behind The Scenes, as the highest-grossing Nollywood film ever, represents the mainstream box-office engine; My Father’s Shadow carries international festival and awards recognition; To Kill A Monkey and the Best Digital Content Creator category signal that online platforms and serialized work are now central to what counts as award-worthy. Sponsors and panels have embraced that change, but nominations do not yet show whether voters will reward experimentation over box-office clout or vice versa.
When the envelopes are opened on March 9, Lagos will likely hand trophies across that divide rather than to a single kind of film. The spread of nominations — from The Herd’s topical debut to Gingerr’s multiple nods, My Father’s Shadow’s international prize and the continuing commercial dominance of Behind The Scenes — points to a vote that will affirm both established hits and digitally native, experimental storytellers; that combination is the clearest signal of where Nigerian filmmaking is headed.
