Public Relations Officer of the Film Producers’ Association of Ghana (FIPAG) has backed recent assertions by Ghanaian actor Majid Michel that there is no movie industry in Ghana. In an email sent to me, the PRO, Michael Kwaku Ola spells out reasons why the association backs the actors.
Although he employs the personal pronoun “I” on various occasions which suggest he writes as an individual, the PRO an interview explained to me the opinions expressed in the letter were a clear representation of what the association believed in.
Read an unedited piece of the letter sent to me.
MAJID IS RIGHT: GHANA HAS NO FILM INDUSTRY!!
It came as a surprise to me to hear people showing various emoted misgivings about Majid Michel’s alleged statement that Ghana has no film industry. What saddens me more is the fact that some ‘producers’ are said to be asking him to retract his statement?
Like seriously? I don’t know who these faceless producers are but I doubt any serious film producer in Ghana would have difficulty in embracing this truth; GHANA HAS NO FILM INDUSTRY!!
I guess I’ve said it loud enough to be heard by all.
Unless you probably do not know what a film industry is or do not understand the film-making business, you be quick to appreciate the truth. Ghana hasn’t yet gotten the simple Legislative Instrument (LI) concerning cinematography, passed after decades of its initiation. It is now in the final reading stage with the Ministry of Creative Arts. This when passed into law, becomes like a blueprint, on which the expected industry can set off.
As it is now there are no ‘structures’ properly put in place awaiting the industrial set off. Elsewhere, where film business is respected, these rudimentary stages were passed easily and quickly but in Ghana? Nay!
As it is now, the film-making circles in this country is made up of independent filmmakers, business men, and politicians etc, who are trying to sustain the circles till we have an industry. If you have followed the Indian film industry or the Chinese industry, you would appreciate the problems we are already having and the lackluster understanding our media has, concerning film-making.
We don’t even have a censorship board in Ghana. There’s no authority monitoring film productions in Ghana. And people say we have AN INDUSTRY?
Even though I don’t agree with certain portions in Majid’s alleged statements, I do not think we have to crucify him without confirming from him, if the story is really true or not. He could have been misconstrued or misquoted, which seems to be diurnal mishap with our media.
Until he comes out to give his side of the story, I just wanted to make the point clear; that Ghana does not, indeed, have a film industry. We are rather crawling, gradually, towards one.
So these whole hallucinatory and suggestive names; Ghallywood, Ghollywood and the rest are ‘premature ejeculative nomenclatures’ for what is not there. It is like giving names to a child when indeed, you are yet to get pregnant. Needless!
I can see a recap of the razzmatazz between MUSIGA and Fennec Okyere, happening to the film industry, should we have one. Because some people have already registered, almost all the hallucinatory names for the future industry, as their company names.
