Girley Jazama bags Sotigui nomination

ACTRESS, writer and producer Girley Jazama has been active in film and theatre productions over the last 15 years and recently her talents were recognised with a nomination for best actor in the Sotigui Awards.

Sotigui works to recognise acting talent in African cinema and the diaspora in partnership with the pan-African festival of cinema and television of Ouagadougou. Jazama is the second Namibian to be recognised and follows in the footsteps of Adriano Visagie who won the award for his performance in ‘Salute!’.

Jazama’s first acting role came while she was at Karibib Private School where she acted in ‘The Lion King’.

“It was such a rewarding process for me. We even got to make our costumes and build the set. It was a collective effort,” she says.

She was sceptical when first hearing about her nomination, says Jazama.

“I found out about my nomination on Saturday evening. They tagged me in their Instagram post. My first reaction was, ‘where did they get my photo? Who are these people? What language is this? What is this?’ I later discovered them online.”

The actress and producer of ‘The White Line’ feels the nomination puts the spotlight on her as an actor and will hopefully land her more international roles.

“It is a nod from my peers in the industry and for me, it is truly an honour to be nominated in the same category as Bongile Mantsai, the lead actor in ‘Knuckle City’. I just think he is brilliant. We did not submit the entry, and we assume it was picked up on the film festival circuit,” she says.

Jazama is drawn to acting because it is a means of exploring life and human emotion, which she says has allowed her to have empathy.

“That moment when you are given an opportunity to really act, transcended in a moment with another actor, can be so rewarding. I love observing behaviour and using it in my characters. Acting affords me the opportunity to know myself. It gives me the opportunity to understand my fellowmen through the depiction and experience of living even a fraction of his or her life.”

– rinelda.media@gmail.com