Veteran Ghanaian actor, Adjetey Anang, has said the nation’s movie industry may be struggling, but it is far from dead. He believes the sector, though dimmed compared to its golden years, still holds untapped potential that could spark a revival.
“We have the gift and talent and the content necessary to succeed. We need to show the outside world that we have valuable content. While capital is important, a strong storyline can still carry a film even if we don’t have huge financial backing,” Anang said in an interview with Asaasepa FM.
The actor recalled a time when Ghana’s film scene thrived, with nearly 50 movies being released in a single month. Today, however, he noted that output has fallen sharply, with filmmakers often unable to produce even half that number due to financial constraints.
“We are still producing films, but it’s not as robust as it once was. In the past, let’s say we used to churn out around 50 movies in a month, but now we only manage to produce half of that due to lack of capital. Many people find that after covering production costs, the returns from the movies are minimal,” he explained.
Anang stressed that money remains one of the industry’s biggest challenges. Investors are reluctant to back productions because of the low returns, and even completed films often struggle to generate profit once revenue is split with cinema chains such as Silverbird.
“There are also challenges, such as sharing proceeds with Silverbird Cinema. If we had more venues available for premiering movies, it could benefit our industry, as healthy competition is important,” he said.
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To address this, Anang urged the establishment of additional movie centers nationwide. He believes expanding screening venues would reduce the dominance of major cinema chains, create competition, and open doors for more filmmakers to showcase their work.
However, he argued that financial backing alone is not enough. Quality storytelling and research, he said, must remain central if Ghanaian films are to capture audiences locally and abroad.
“We need to focus on improving the quality of our work by putting more research into our projects. Once something is released, it can reach a global audience. These are some of the challenges that make it seem like the industry is struggling, but we are still pushing,” Adjetey Anang emphasized.
Watch his statement below.
