Tell good stories - Kwaw Ansah to filmmakers

VETERAN filmmaker Kwaw Ansah has urged filmmakers in the country to endeavour to tell good stories to move the local film industry to a higher pedestal.

Kwaw Ansah, who is in his late 70s, made this point in an interview with Graphic Showbiz recently at his East Legon residence.

“We have a lot of talents in the country and some of the films we’ve seen show that young ones have talents but need to build capacity.

“When the industry required celluloid, things were different but as soon as video took over, its instant nature made people think that you can tell a story in the most rushed and mediocre way forgetting that when telling a story, the media does not matter but how the story is told.

“Therefore, you see a lot of products that have not gone through the process of normal storytelling. The sad thing in our society today is that our children have not benefited from the old woman’s presence when she told us emotional stories about our forebears.

“Our old ladies mastered the craft of storytelling so that by the time the story was finished, you would find that it was well put together. These days, the children have not been taught how to tell our own stories.

"The people are in a hurry to make money so they’ve not learnt how to tell relevant stories. At the end of the day, you see one film and you don’t want to see another,’ the multiple award winner stated.

However, Kwaw Ansah whose works as writer, director and producer include award-winning films Love Brewed in the African Pot and Heritage Africa, expressed the hope that this will change and people will approach the art of filmmaking with a lot more seriousness.

“I do hope the atmosphere will change and the young filmmakers will realise the importance of movies as a tool. There is no tool more powerful than the audio-visual. We must not belittle the importance of this very powerful tool.

“When we are approaching it, we have to do it in its right sense. This is what I hope the film authority will seek to advance with the cinematography bill,” he said.

Touching on the current crop of actors, this is what Kwaw Ansah had to say. “These days, every beautiful faced man or woman can be an actor. You could see a man or woman who is not attractive but his manner of telling stories is great, being beautiful does not make you an automatic actor,” he stressed.

Asked if he would go back to filmmaking, he said, “I have quite a number of scripts available and I wouldn’t mind doing so but for my health challenges.

I may be old but I am still young when it comes to this industry. I hope God will add a few more years to my age so I can contribute to this industry.”

For Kwaw Ansah, the film industry is a very serious one and must be seen as such.

“All the works I have been involved in, there have been younger ones and there were older ones. I will continue sharing ideas with the young ones and the older ones. This is a very serious industry and it must be taken seriously,” he concluded.