Grey Dawn, the latest movie from award-winning television and movie company, Sparrow Productions, got a full house at the movie's premiere on February 13, 2015 at the Silverbird Cinema in Accra.
The movie, directed by multiple award-winning film producer and director, Shirley Frimpong-Manso, and produced by Ken Attoh, had a multi-national cast from Ghana, Nigeria and Gabon.
The movie tells the story of a government minister, Harold, played by Nollywood’s Manuel Bimbo, and wife, played by Nigerian Funlola Aofiyebi-Raimi.
The minister had to choose between using his position to help his father-in-law, Kweku Yanka (played by veteran Ghanaian actor, Kofi Middleton Mends), stay out of jail for tax evasion or allow the law to take its course.
His wife apparently had an affair with an artist (Jacques) played by Gabonese actor Marlon Mave who was also dating the minister's daughter and art student played by Ghanaian new kid on the block, Sika Osei.
The seats in the Cinema Hall were virtually filled with movie lovers who applauded and sighed at the diverse scenes in the two-hour movie.
The highest point of reaction from the audience was when the minister's wife was caught in between a rejection by the artist boyfriend and her suspicious husband walking in on her extra marital affair after trailing her to the artist's house.
The accidental killing of the artist by the minister's wife and the cover up by the minister to protect and restore his family is the new twist Shirley Frimpong-Manso adds to 'Grey Dawn' to portray the "real and complicated situations people face in our society".
"This is our way of telling stories and it is very African because a lot of people live with complicated scenarios at home and we wanted to bring the story close to home as possible," Shirley said on the Red Carpet event for the movie after the premiere.
Shirley Frimpong-Manso said the biggest challenge they faced was finding the Jacques character played by Marlon Mave. "We took for granted that there are a lot of French African actors around. We advertised a lot and did a lot of auditions until we met Marlon from Gabon who was great".
In an interview with GhanaWeb, Gabonese French speaking actor Marlon Mave said he studied English for four years to prepare for such roles with big African actors. "It was an honour to work with Shirley Frimpong-Manso who is one of the biggest directors in Africa".
"This project was a new experience for me and I was very happy about it because I was accepted well in Ghana. I was really prepared to work with Shirley. I even learned to paint for this role," Marlon Mave said.
Always-smiling television star and newbie to the movie industry in Ghana, Sika Osei, played her role remarkably well as the daughter of the minister and an art seller who fell in love with Jacques, her mother's boyfriend.
Sika expressed delight for securing the role and wished to work more with Shirley to gain all the necessary experience to build her career in the growing movie industry.
The movie 'Grey Dawn' is still showing at the Silverbird Cinemas in Accra and will subsequently premiere at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science & Technology.
Click 'Photos' to see pictures of the Red Carpet event for the movie's premiere.
Watch the trailer of the movie below:
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