At the 2010 AMAA Awards held on the 10th of April 1010 in Bayelsa State, Nigeria, Ghanaian movie director/writer, Shirley Frimpong-Manso stood triumphant as her movies ‘The Perfect Picture‘ and ‘A Sting in a Tale‘ won numerous awards. For Shirley, it was a very special day, she saw her leading lady from ‘The Perfect Picture’, Jackie Appiah win the ‘Best Actress’ award, Adjatey Anang won the best supporting actor award and ‘A Sting in a Tale’ was recognized as for its soundtrack. On a personal note, Shirley clinched the Best Director award for ‘The Perfect Picture’.

Just a few days before the AMAAs, Shirley premiered her new movie “Checkmate” starring Nadia Buari, Naa Ashorkor Mensah-Doku, Ekow Blankson and KSM at the National Theatre in Accra, Ghana.

Here is the synopsis of the movie:

Kwame has made all the right moves in his life; a good job, a beautiful devoted wife, an adorable child, and an impending promotion as a senior customs officer at the airport.

But what seems like a typical guys hang out on a weekend away from home in the company of his new friend and mentor, Kiki, turns out to be the one wrong move Kwame makes. After losing a game of Chess, he succumbs to a bet to seduce the attractive, sexy Caroline.

A few weeks later, the consequences of a dirty forgotten weekend pops up in Kwame’s life threatening to destroy everything he so dearly loves. But the games are just beginning when he realizes that Caroline’s demand for his love is nothing compared to the demands of a drug lord who will do anything to get Kwame’s assistance in smuggling drugs out of the country.

With his entire life hanging on a thread, Kwame must try to win the game or risk losing everything.

The movie has received favourable reviews and the strong box office receipts are evidence that fans are fully embracing this new feature film. Fans have also commented that the performance delivered by Nadia Buari is her best yet. The movie will be available in Nigerian cinemas soon and will be released on DVD in a few months.

We admire Shirley’s professional approach to filmmaking. All her movies have been well shot with proper scripts and great casts. In addition, the packaging gets an A+ including the excellent official movie websites. Click to see the website for Checkmate and check out still photos, behind the scenes video and the official trailer for the movie. Congrats to Shirley on all her success and her latest “production” as she is currently pregnant with a baby. Great to see the African movie industry progressing and the increasingly prominent role of women such as Shirley and Emem Isong in this development.

Photos from “Checkmate”