ENCOURAGE GHANAIAN FILM PRODUCERS

Steve Asare Hackman, President of the Film Producers Association of Ghana (FIPAG), has asked stakeholders in the film industry to encourage upcoming producers to churn out high-quality movies rather than criticising them.

In recent times, film critics and even some movie producers have been expressing worry about how some films produced in Ghana have low standards and are affecting patronage.

Speaking to NEWS-ONE about that situation, Mr Hackman stated that the issue of falling standards in the film industry has been of great concern to the association.

“Since we came into office, this thing has been a great concern for us. We know that the fact that about 85 per cent of those who are producing Ghanaian films don’t have formal training is worrying. One of our agendas that we had in our manifesto is to provide training or to talk to film training institutes in Ghana and outside Ghana to organise training for our members,” he said.

Mr Hackman disclosed that FIPAG was currently in talks with the National Film and Television Institute (NAFTI) and other training institutions to design curricula that will encourage these producers to enrol and upgrade themselves.

“When we had our stakeholders’ conference in Kumasi, one of the things that came up for discussion was the scripting. We all concluded that for a film to be good, the initial thing is the story. We also spent a lot of time to find out how we would train some of our members. If a producer, who is already a member of FIPAG, has his money and interest in film and he has started, what do we do? Do we stop them? No we can’t. What we are doing now is to talk to NAFTI and other training institutions and see how best we can come out with a curriculum which will suit that requisite requirement to enter these schools. FIPAG is working tirelessly on this,” he said.

However Mr Hackman was quick to add that rating a film as high or low standard was mostly discretionary since what one may term as a good film may be a bad one for another.

“Not all Ghanaian films that are produced are low standard. Rating a movie as low standard is mostly discretionary because there are so many things one will have to use—like the storyline, acting, editing and directing among others—before arriving at such a conclusion. What you term as a good film might be termed as a bad film by another,” he noted.