Ghana Club celebrates Kwaw Ansah, King Ampaw

Ghana Club, a membership-based social group in Accra, will on September 19 and September 20, celebrate two of its members - Kwaw Ansah and King Ampaw - for their significant contributions to the development of cinema in this country.

The programme is dubbed “Film Pioneers Achievement Gala”. It comprises screening of King Ampaw’s No Time To Die film on September 19 and Kwaw Ansah’s  Heritage Africa on September 20.

There will be question-and-answer sessions with the respective directors and comments from patrons after each screening. The two filmmakers will be presented with citations at a dinner party on the second day.

Founded in 1947, Ghana Club is located not far from the Independence Square. It is open every day for members and their guests. It is generally described as a pleasant outlet for networking.

According to the Club’s President, Dr Adrian Oddoye, the upcoming event is the first in a series to honour people who have made remarkable inputs into various aspects of our national life.

“We deem it appropriate to kick off with our members who stand tall as far as cinema is concerned. People have done a lot for this country and we will with time, reach out to some of them in sports, music, visual arts, literature, architecture and more.”

The best-known films directed by King Ampaw are  Kukurantumi, Road to Accra (1983), Nana Akoto (1985) and  No Time to Die (2006).

 A love tale that also looks at the issue of funerals in our society but with a twist of comedy, No Time to Die  features actors such as David Dontoh, Fritz Baffour, Agartha Ofori, Kwesi France, Kofi Bucknor, Amartey Hedjoleh  and Kofi Middleton-Mends.

 Apart from making his own films, Ampaw has co-produced others which include the epic Cobra Verde in 1987. He also acted in it.

 Others he has co-produced are African Timber directed by Peter Bringmann in 1989, Anansi directed by Fritz Baumann in 2001 and Welcome Home, a German feature shot in Ghana in 2003.

Kwaw Ansah is regarded in many circles as Ghana’s most influential filmmaker. His breakthrough as a film director came in 1980 with Love Brewed in the African Pot. His other works include Heritage Africa; Crossroads Of People, Crossroads of Trade;The Good Old Days; Suffering To Lose; The Love Of AA and Papa Lasisi Bicycle.

 Respect and admiration for his general body of work have come in the form of several awards in Ghana, Burkina Faso, United Kingdom, India and other places.

Philippa Ama Bentuma Arthur is coordinator for the Film Pioneers Achievement Gala. She says planning has gone well so far and Ghana Club members and their guests are looking forward to some inspiring moments with two of the nation’s film stalwarts.