Time to sit up

The Golden Movie Awards Africa came off last Saturday and to say Ghanaian movies performed poorly will be an understatement. Out of the 28 awards in contention, Ghanaian movies won just four awards. Emphasis, just four awards.

Of course, this was to be expected. Prior to the awards night, very few Ghanaian movies received nominations. The consensus from the panel of judges was that the quality of movies from Ghana were simply not good enough.

This revelation and the subsequent poor performance of our films at the event should be enough to jolt Ghanaian filmmakers from their sleep and sit up.

It is fairly obvious that Ghanaian filmmakers are not interested in challenging themselves and have become content with doing the barest minimum with regards to what they put out. It is little surprise that there are very few Ghanaian films airing on international networks. It is sad that Ghana is gradually losing its reputation as a hub of filmmaking on the international scene.

As our Nigerian counterparts have proven with their numerous international awards, quality is recognised and rewarded. Nigerian filmmakers have understood the concept of investing in their craft and it is clearly paying off.

Ghana possesses some of the most skilled filmmaking professionals such as script writers, directors, actors, cinematographers among others but their expertise is barely utilised by our local industry. Additionally, many of the veteran filmmakers and actors who have a wealth of experience to offer the current generations have been virtually ignored.

The Ghanaian film industry has come a long way and it should be nurtured and encouraged to grow rather than stagnate as is the case now. The time to sit up is now.