Ghallygold Awards launched amidst controversy

The idea of having an awards scheme to honour excellence in the Ghanaian movie industry may be long overdue especially now that there are signs of improvement in certain aspects of movie production in the country. The GhallyGold Awards was launched on Tuesday January 12 to do just that.

The launch was characterized by well structured presentations on the history of film (movies) in Ghana; the spokes of the industry and the role each of them play or have to play in moving the industry forward; as well as projecting excellence in the industry. A symbolic statuette of a performer standing on a base with 5 divisions, holding a sphere with a film roll and an Adinkra symbol (Nsaa) up in his hands, was also unveiled as the trophy winners of the various categories would take home.

According to Rockson Adu Boahene CEO of Item 3 House, the 5 round bases of the statuette symbolize the five spokes of the film industry namely writers, directors, actors, producers and technicians. The human figure kneels on one knee to represent giving honour to whom it is due. The film roll symbolizes the production of movies and the ‘Nsaa’ symbol reflects the Akan saying which translates as ‘he who does not know authentic Nsaa buys the fake’.

The categories for the GhallyGold Award cut across a number of major divisions such as technical awards, special or merit awards and the casting awards. Among these categories are: best actor in a lead, best actress in a lead, best actors in supporting roles, best screenplay, best music score, best juvenile actor among others.

The awards are open to all movie producers and forms for submission of entries and other inquiries can be made on www.ghanagoldawards.com. A 9-member selection committee would screen movies and finalists would be made known for public voting as well as other technical voting to determine winners in the various categories.

The launch was nearly marred by pointless misunderstandings over whether GhanallyGold remains just an awards scheme or should also be the name for the Ghanaian movie industry. Certain utterances by some speakers during the launch and a documentary that was played back stated clearly that “Ghana movie industry is now GhallyGold”. This called for interpretations since the name Ghallywood had been launched previously as the official name for the Ghanaian movie industry. Apparently, the organizers of GhallyGold had agreed with the Film Producers Association of Ghana (FIPAG) to effect that name change but the question remains whether one group of industry players could decide to name a whole industry; and what really is in a name? South Africa makes great ‘films’ and yet their industry isn't named ‘Sallywood’.

The disagreement paved the way for some people present to raise other questions about the composition of the selection committee that poked holes in the readiness and ability of the organizers to host an award that would be accepted by the generality of industry players.

The Ghallygold Awards is being organized by Item 3 House, an event management company, in collaboration with the Film Producers Association of Ghana (FIPAG). The awards, initially scheduled to take place last year, was put on hold due to delays in getting all stakeholders on board. For the past three years, the Ghanaian movie industry has not had any award ceremony to honour its stakeholders after the Ghana Actors’ Guild held the last one.

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