The nominations for the 7th Africa Magic Viewer’s Choice Awards were announced last weekend, and there were quite a number of surprises. It was clearly a slow year for African cinema because many critics voiced their concerns that about the fact that quite a number of the films nominated had not been officially released in cinemas or on streaming platforms. Barring all that negative energy, there is one underappreciated gem that has come from the nominations this year; validation for Lowladee’s Plan B. 

Plan B, the debut feature film project from Lola ‘Lowladee’ Adeleke’s Lowladee productions was the culmination of years of work and was one of the few films released in 2019 that did a great job of harnessing a pan-african cast to tell a truly continental love story. Lola Adeleke partnered with Sara Hassan and Kenyan production company Alfajiri Productions to make the project and Etim Effiong (best known for his work on Gidi Up and The Men’s Club) was the film’s charismatic lead beside Sarah Hassan (who also produces).

So far Plan B has racked up an impressive 2 million views, and has become an instant African Valentine’s classic. So for it to rack up nominations in 2 categories (Odhiambo Walter for best lighting designer, Etim Effiong for best Actor) marks a definite shift in how we view non-traditional streaming services like Youtube.

Congratulations to LowlaDee and her team and good luck on the awards.

Edwin Okolo

Edwin Okolo is an author and journalist who has worked with YNaija, TheNativemag and the Naked Convos.