Ghanaian Epic Movies Fade Out

Even though Ghana’s movie industry has started going through some form of transformation within the past year, with a lot of movies being released now and then, that is happening with its own set of problems.

Indications are that all is not rosy with sales of some of the movies that are churned out lately. But movie producers have been tight-lipped and are not speaking about it publicly.

NEWS-ONE gathered that with the rise in sex-oriented movies, which Ghanaians hypocritically complain about, sales for other movies have now fallen, with epic movies suffering the heat of the moment.

Currently, movie fans do not patronize epic movies again. Some producers have also started rejecting scripts of these movies which are described as low budget.

What is even worrisome is the fact that actors have also joined the fray. NEWS-ONE sources say actresses feel reluctant to feature in these movies because make up is not often done in such movies and as a result, they fear of the facial looks without make up.

Also, epic movies are always shot in villages and most Ghanaian actors have been running away from such. Most of them detest the idea of leaving Accra to spend weeks or months shooting in villages. Ironically, it is epic movies which to some extent have propelled Ghana’s movie on the continental.

At the last African Movie Academy Awards (AMMA), a Ghanaian epic movie like ‘I Sing Of A Well’ directed by Leila Djansi, won awards including the top-most one- the Jurors Award of the year, AMAA Achievement In Sound and AMAA Achievement In Costume. Most of the movies that were awarded during that ceremony were epic movies, with ‘Fulani’ being one of them.

The previous year at AMAA, Abdul Salam’s epic movie ‘Agony of The Christ’ also got a lot of nominations. It is however an undeniable fact that some of these epic movies help in portraying Ghanaians culture and that of Africa and that is what the world wants to see. But can Ghana’s movie industry excel without epic movies?