Local Film Producers Undermining Industry

The influx of Nigerian movies on the Ghanaian market is threatening the survival of the film industry in Ghana and ironically Ghanaian producers are themselves importing the movies into the system.

Most Ghanaian producers are taking advantage of the cheap cost of Nigerian movie productions as well as the ECOWAS protocol that allow free flow of goods to import Nigerian movies as an alternative to Ghanaian movie production.

“The proliferation of Nigerian movies onto the Ghanaian market has assumed alarming proportions and is killing the budding Ghanaian movie market,” said the acting Assistant Production Manager of the Ghana Malaysia Film Company ( GAMA), Mr. James Annan Mettle, in an interview with The Mirror.

Mr Mettle said the trading system is flexible, with no restriction on movies that are brought in from Nigeria and other countries. This is because there is no film policy that binds producers and film makers to work with a policy that will be in the interest of Ghanaian productions.

He pointed out that Nigerian movie productions are cheaper in terms of cost, but in terms of quality of production and plot, Ghanaian productions are far better in bringing out educative themes than Nigerian movies, which mostly focus on either juju or ghost stories.

Every day in Ghana, a new Nigerian movie is censored and released onto the market, unlike Ghanaian productions which have been stifled by the influx of Nigerian movies, threatening the sale of Ghanaian productions on the market.

Mr. Mettle, who is also a veteran cameraman and producer, noted that Ghanaian productions are not given any prominence in Nigeria at all, owing to the fact that Nigeria has policy that ensures that foreign producers do not just infiltrate its market.

Nigerian movie makers are currently involving Ghanaian producers, actors and crew to attract the Ghanaian market. However, Ghanaian movie makers lack the resources to involve Nigerians in Ghanaian productions.

Mr Mettle reiterated the fact that government has a role to play in making Ghanaian movies economically viable by ensuring that the film policy bill currently before Parliament spells out regulations to ensure that Ghanaian productions do not suffer at the expense of Nigerian or foreign productions.