Adjetey Anang is a veteran Ghanaian actor
Ghanaian actor, Adjetey Anang, has indicated that Ghana’s movie industry is a flame that has dimmed but not gone out.
He has asserted that the glory days of Ghana’s movie industry can return because the country still has a lot of untapped talents and content to make the industry thrive again.
“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,” Adjetey Anang said.
Our efforts in the theatre arts industry are bearing fruits now – Adjetey Anang
He believes the industry is still alive, but it’s just going through a rough patch compared to the golden days when movie releases were happening regularly.
Speaking in a video shared by Asaasepa FM on Facebook on August 18, the veteran actor painted a vivid picture of what has changed over the years.
He recalled a time in the history of Ghana’s movie industry when as many as 50 movies could hit the market in a single month.
Today, however, he said the numbers have dropped, with filmmakers struggling to even produce half of that due to financial challenges.
‘It’s unwise for actors to step out and demonstrate’ – Adjetey Anang
According to Adjetey Anang, money has become one of the biggest stumbling blocks for the industry because many investors are hesitant to pump funds into movie projects because the returns are often too little.
He pointed out that even after filmmakers manage to finish production, sharing revenue with cinema outlets like Silverbird leaves them with little profit.
“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.
“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.
He subsequently called for the establishment of more movie centres across the country to give filmmakers more options to premiere their work.
This, he explained, would not only reduce the monopoly of big cinema chains but also create healthy competition and open up more opportunities for producers.
Adjetey Anang believes money alone cannot fix everything. He noted that Ghanaian filmmakers must also raise the bar when it comes to quality.
He urged script writers to produce quality and intriguing stories, especially now that digital platforms can put Ghanaian movies in front of international viewers almost instantly.
“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,” he said.
Meanwhile, watch the trailer for GhanaWeb’s upcoming documentary on teenage girls and how fish is stealing their futures below:
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