The Man Died wins Best Screenplay award at Carthage Film Festival

THE Man Died, the feature film inspired by Wole Soyinka’s prison notes of the same title, clinched the Best Screenplay trophy at the 35th Carthage International Film Festival, held from November 14 to 21 in Tunis, Tunisia.

The film’s director, Awam Amkpa, and the lead actor, Wale Ojo, attended the festival.

At the festival’s closing ceremony, The Man Died, written by United Kingdom-based Bode Asiyanbi, was unveiled as a winner in the feature film competition alongside 14 other entries from diverse countries.

According to the festival’s website, entries for the various competitive categories were received from about 100 countries. The Grand Prize called the Golden Tanit was won by Tunisian Lotfi Achour’s feature film The Red Path (Les Enfants Rouges). The silver trophy went to To an Unknown World by Palestinian director Mahdi Fleifel. In contrast, the bronze trophy went to Demba by Senegalese director Mamadou Dia.

Founded in 1966, Carthage Film Festival (Journées cinématographiques de Carthage, or JCC), one of the oldest film festivals in the world, is renowned for attracting large casts of the best of global cinema family. It is reputed to champion the cause of African and Arab countries and enhance Global South cinema in general. Supported by the Tunisian Ministry of Culture, JCC is reputed as one of the oldest film festivals in the world and certainly the oldest and most prestigious on the continent.

217 films from 21 countries were featured in the four main competitions – feature narrative films, feature documentary films, short narrative films, and short documentary films.

Though yet to be officially released to the market, The Man Died has, since its “special premiere” in July in Lagos to mark Professor Soyinka’s  90th birthday, had already won two awards – Best Screenplay Award at the 2024 African International Film Festival (AFRIFF), (November) and Best Audience Choice Award at the Eastern Nigeria International Film Festival (ENIFF).

Directed by Prof. Awam Amkpa and produced by Femi Odugbemi for Zuri24 Media, The Man Died is now set to feature at another prestigious African film festival, Luxor International Film Festival in Egypt, January 9-16.

It will thereafter go to the Jo’Burg Film Festival, South Africa, in February, the African Film Festival, New York, US, in March and FESPACO in Burkina Faso in March, among others.

The film is being considered for special screenings at educational institutions in Florence, Italy; Abu Dhabi in the UAE; Jo’Burg in South Africa; Harvard University, Oxford University, and Ithaca College, among others.

Notably, the film is also being reviewed by at least three major global streaming platforms and international distribution channels.

The Man Died stars renowned names on the Nigerian screen, including Wale Ojo as Wole, Sam Dede as Yisa, Norbert Young (Prison Superintendent), Francis Onwochei (Prison Controller) and Edmund Enaibe as Commissioner and international actors such as London-UK-based Christiana Oshunniyi (Laide Soyinka), and Los Angeles, US-based Abraham Awam-Amkpa (Johnson), among others.

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