Yours truly welcomes you my dear reader of the most innovative and reliable Flex newspaper to another week of good and juicy stories making rounds in the Ghanaian movie world. Read on fellas.
Movie making in Ghana and the world at large has come of age and its positive effects can never be underestimated. This business venture has made some second and third world countries such as Jamaica, Nigeria, South Africa, Burkina Faso, Algeria, Kenya, The Gambia, Niger, Cameroun, Mexico, Brazil, Ghana and others a force to reckon with when its comes to cinematography, not forgetting the enormous economic boost it brings to the fore.
It seems all is moving so well for the various movie producers in the country considering the high figures they have been recording during and after the premiering of their movies. Reports say, these producers make about ten thousand cedis and even more when movies are premiered at the silver birds’ cinema. Notable names include Abdul Salam Mumuni of Venus films, Roger Quartey of Roger Q productions and Shirley Frimpong Manso of Sparrows productions.
Talking to an expert who is in his mid fifties about the neglect of the various cinemas in the early seventies (70s) through to the early nineties (90s), he spoke highly of the joy those venues used to bring and the passion that came with the tone of his voice was incredible.
Certainly, has anyone ever sat to ask why the only place of movie premiering should be the silver birds cinema? Well, these days TV3s “new” executive theatre formerly known as GAMA Films theatre has bounced back after a long “exile” in the unknown world. This writer would like to ask, where have all these great cinemas gone to? The likes of Rex (behind Accra hockey pitch), Opera (Accra central), Oxford (Accra new town), Royal (Adabraka), Orbit (Kaneshie), Orion (Circle), Casino (Tema), Globe (Adabraka) amongst others.
In a chit-chat with some old folks, they had series of regrets on the turn of events in the movie industry, blaming past and present government for the bad phase of cinemas in the country.
One Mr. Lawrence Enyan recalled how stars such as Bruce Lee, Li Fu Tsu, Ma Feng, Swan Peng, Jackie Chan, Amitabh Bachchan, Sri Devi, Dharmendra, Sunil Patel, Anil Kapoor all from China and India respectively became household names thanks to the many cinema houses in the country at the time. “Those days, the only Ghanaian movies one could watch were Road to Kukurantumi, love brewed in Africa pot, Harvest at 18, Genesis and a few. It was mostly Chinese and Indian movies and they had good stories to tell, unlike today`s” he uttered.
According to the old guys, the government should do their bits to open more cinema halls which could generate income for the country as well as some form of employment for the youth.
Indeed, this reporter could not agree more with these old men. We hope the hierarchies will take the voices of the people into cognisance and act accordingly. They should not forget that “The cinemas, are our world of movies”.
