Shirley Frimpong-Manso speaks out against movie piracy
Ghanaian filmmaker Shirley Frimpong-Manso has criticised television stations that show movies without the owners’ permission.
In an interview on Hitz FM, the movie producer described such actions as criminal. She expressed frustration over the issue of piracy, which affects the movie industry.
Shirley, while discussing how piracy has hurt filmmakers in Ghana, shared how much the illegal airing of movies upsets her. According to her, she doesn’t watch pirated films, even when people send her links.
“I want to kill all of them. I have a personal concern and I do not watch pirated stuff, I don’t care. People have said, ‘Oh, have you seen it?’ I said no. They said, ‘Oh, use this link and you can watch it.’ I never do because I know how much it hurts to spend,” she said.
She explained that making a movie involves a lot of time, effort, and money, such as hiring a large crew to providing meals and managing logistics.
“Movie making is excruciating, the money, having to have 30, 40-plus people on set every day, feeding them, it’s a lot. Even a five or ten-day production involves feeding everyone breakfast, lunch, and sometimes dinner. The emotional, financial, and logistical investment is massive,” she explained.
She added that it is heartbreaking to see a movie you worked so hard on being aired without permission.
“To be able to put that movie out and have somebody just take it and show it… I can’t begin to describe it. It hurts more than anything in the world,” she stated.
Shirley also questioned why the people behind these illegal broadcasts are not being punished. She called for stricter actions to be taken against them.
“I don’t understand why we know who the culprits are, and somehow they’re still out there doing it. This is something we can’t keep warning people about, it’s a criminal offence. There’s evidence. I don’t understand why we’re babysitting this kind of thing,” she added.
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