Film Classification Committee rushing to disappoint movie producers – Bnoskka

Creative arts critic who doubles as copyright coach Benjamin Oduro Arhin Jnr popularly known as Bnoskka has predicted a foreseeable failure by the Film Classification Committee.

Not long ago the National Film Authority commissioned a 12-member Film Classification Committee (FCC) to see to the classification, standardisation, categorisation, and preview of film content intended for viewership.

Bnoskka, a regular pundit on the Kasapa Entertainment Show has hinted on the committee to be patient and meticulous in executing their mandate as the task assigned them is way bigger and demanding than they perceive.

Explaining further, he stated the committee is not ready for work now looking at their ill-preparedness.

“They lack the required systems and processes to make their work more effective and efficient, he stated.

They need a digital system to facilitate the process looking at the workload facing them but a greater percentage of their working model is manual and looks almost impossible in an era in which almost everything is being digitalised.

Bnoskka, however, advised the committee to take time, set up a digitalize system, educate stakeholders properly before enforcing their mandate else their effort will rather cause harm than to benefit movie producers and the industry as a whole.

Meanwhile, the newly inaugurated Film Classification Committee of Ghana might be facing a huge challenge as stakeholders such as Television Stations and Film Producers, may have ignored the call to submit all audiovisual materials to the committee before airing.

Since the Classification Committee officially started calling for submissions from stakeholders on 15th June 2020, not a single submission has been made.

The Chairman of the Film Classification Committee Socrates Safo, told Shine Publications, that the law will take its cause on the matter.

The Chairman of the Film Classification Committee Socrates Safo described the response from Television stations and some Filmmakers in Ghana as unfortunate and a challenge to authority and the law.

“The television stations have called our bluff. So, we have to see what the law says when someone calls our bluff. As we speak, not a single film has been presented to us. Yet, we have engaged over 50 trained people at our office for previewing purposes to help speed up the process, because we know the volume of work that would be coming our way, and we want to avoid any delays”, he said.