Two years after its return, Rwanda International Movie Awards (RIMA) has revealed the nominees for this year’s edition to take place during an awarding ceremony slated for April 1.

The awards, which are in their eighth edition locally and the second edition since they went international in 2019 are organised by Ishusho Arts since 2011, a local company that focuses on cinema activities with an aim of recognising the finest films produced by Rwandan and foreign movie producers.

The organisers have revealed nominees for each of the three categories namely RIMA Local Nomination, RIMA East Africa nomination and RIMA International nomination.

The local nomination category involves nominees for short film, Documentary Film, Series Film, Feature Film, Directors, Female Actress, Male Actor, Director of Photography, Sound Engineer, Gaffers and People’s Choice (Female and Male).

Among the RIMA East Africa nominees include short movies, academic films competition, series films, features films, directors, male actors and female actresses among others. While for the RIMA International nominees are short film, feature film, documentaries, directors, Male actor and Female actresses.

The East Africa nominees are from Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania and DRC. International nominees include the USA, Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon and France.

The voting is set to kick off on March 8, while the process for voting will be communicated on March 6, after showcasing the grand prize to the nominees.

In a recent interview with The New Times, Jackson Mucyo, Executive Director of Ishusho Arts disclosed that the awards have had an impactful contribution to the film industry as filmmakers’ creativity continue to show incredible improvement. He said that they expect more countries to participate in the awards’ eighth edition as the event continues to attract more international filmmakers.

While trophies are lined-up for every award winner, the winners in the ‘Best Choice Actor’ and ‘Best Choice Actress’ of the year award winners will see themselves tussling out for a car, the grand prize in this year’s awards.

The car prize will go to one with the highest number of votes between the two while the second will be given a cheque worth an amount that is yet to be communicated but less the value of the car given to the winner.