Anybody Seen Grace Nortey, Grace Omaboe, David Dontoh?

The so-called Ghanaian film industry we celebrate today would not have reached its current height without the sacrifices and contributions of some important names we seem to have forgotten or deliberately relegate to the background.

Though we appreciate the contribution of the current crop of actors and actresses, we are of the opinion that our movie casts should be a blend of the old and new.

We just cannot understand why a young man would be disguised to play the role of an old man when there are old actors who can play such roles to perfection.

Many of our veteran actors and actresses whose sacrifices and contributions have led to what we now call a growing film industry have simply been relegated to the background and our movie producers seem to have an allergy for casting them.

Is it not surprising that our Nigerian counterparts still show maximum reverence and appreciation for their veteran actors and actresses while in Ghana we treat ours like waste pipes.

What happened to names like Dzifa Glikpo, Grace Nortey, Sheila Nortey, Nat Banini, Brew Riverson Jnr, Oscar Provencal, Edinam Atachi, Grace Omaboe, Mark Jordan Amartey, Pascaline Edwards, Psalm Adjeteyfio, Fred Amugi, George Williams, Abeiku Sagoe, Akofa Adjeani-Asiedu, David Dontoh, Rama Brew, Irene Opare and the tall list of talented actors and actresses whose sweat and sacrifices cannot be over looked when the history of Ghana’s film industry is chronicled?

God knows for how many years names like Olu Jacobs, Pete Edochi, Patience Ozorkwor, Oyenka Owenu, Zach Orji and their generation of film makers have remained in the industry and are still valuable assets to movie producers in their country.

The good old Sam Loco for instance, was still relevant to the Nigerian film industry even until his very last day on earth.

Creative people have something in them- something creative that never dies. No matter how old a creative person is, that creative talent can still be harnessed and galvanised into positive action.

We do not want to believe that the likes of Olu Jacobs are contributing to the demise of Nollywood.

Why then do we behave as if the Mark Jordan Amarteys and the Pascaline Edwards cannot contribute meaningfully to our so-called Ghallywood (whatever happened to our sense of creativity), if given the chance.

Most of the veterans whose names are mentioned in this piece contributed to the movie industry when it was not a lucrative venture. They were inspired by sheer passion and affection for the arts.

We believe that if the industry has become a lucrative one today, (at least that is what we are told and see from the lifestyles of the current players), it would be most unfortunate to just forget and overlook the efforts of the veterans in the game, especially when they can still play roles and play it well.

We want to see the day when the veterans would be given roles in our current movies. We want to see the day when they would be blended with the Michel Majids and the John Dumelos.

We want to see the day when our veteran actors would make some decent income from the very industry they sacrificed and sweated for. We can only hope and pray until we see that blessed day. We rest our case for now.