SILVERBIRD CINEMA APOLOGIZES FOR COMMENT MADE ON KUMAWOOD MOVIES

The pain and woes of producers of movies made in the Akan language which are often referred to as Kumawood were deepened after a statement by Silverbird cinemas in Accra sought to imply their movies were of low quality hence the cinema’s decision not to show such movies there.

However, a recent meeting with the Film Producers Association of Ghana (FIPAG) has seen management of Silverbird Cinema apologize for its comment and set out a new road map to help show local movies (Akan) at its cinemas.

The cinema as part of the new road map will join forces with FIPAG to organize local movie weeks as well as local movie festivals to help improve the movie industry. It will also organize workshops with producers to cement the new relationship.

Some few weeks ago, the marketing manager of Silverbird cinema, Cynthia Elorm Dumfuor during the Women in Film Making Forum at the Golden Tulip told the gathering that they were not showing Kumawood movies because they do not meet the quality and standards required by the managers of the cinema.

She was quoted as saying, “it is not as if we don’t want to show any movies produced locally at the cinema. We have movies from other producers being premiered at our cinema’s, but most of the Akan movies have lower quality and are sub standard, that is our issue with those movies.

If they can upgrade their movies, I am sure we will be glad to show Akan movies in our cinemas because we also want to contribute our quota to the movie industry."

In a related development, Home Base TV has also dedicated 2 hours daily for FIPAG and its members to advertise, discuss, show music videos and to showcase their works for free.

This is an attempt to help absorb some of the high cost of advertisements that FIPAG members face during promotions.

HIPLIFE QUEEN, ABREWA NANA RETURNS WITH ‘HOPE’

Proud to be the only lady musician featured in the Book of Hiplife by VVIP; Abrewa Nana was the Queen of GH Dancehall way back 2002 with her hit song, ‘Odo filla’.

She went missing on the music scene couple of years ago and has returned with 2 singles titled ‘No-Money-No-Honey’ and ‘A.D.J.O.A-Ninja’ which describes a girl who has rather chosen to lay with men who lie to help her become a superstar instead of working hard; all released on radio and social media last year.

Speaking to Dorcas Opoku Dakwa, Abrewa Nana told GhanaWeb Entertainment that both online released songs are on her pending (no.) album dubbed ‘Hope’ to encourage the poor, the sick, the orphan, the ‘almost-giving up’ persons and even the rich.

“I titled this album, ‘Hope’ because we all need it to survive. We all desire hope toto live hopefully to see another day and to look at the era of generation that comes with so many challenges and doubts of possibilities,” she said.

She further noted that the idea is to encourage and inspire every being especially the youth who are so easily wooed to follow almost everything their ears and eyes sees which either encourage or make them want to give up.

But “songs on my ‘Hope’ album will encourage them to flee the give-up whisper and ‘all hope is lost’ mentality from their minds and rather have the ‘Hope’ of seeing their dreams manifest.”

According to her, the upcoming album is a 15-track album which was specially written and arranged by her and was produced by Kaywa, Morris Baby Face, MixMasta Garzy as well as upcoming talented engineers, X-Conzy and Fita of Alqaheeda fame who was nominated at the 2014 VGMA.

“I featured Pros on songs on the album like Okyeame Kwame, the Rap Doctor on ‘Prince Charming’ and also, Castro, Joe Frazer, among others that I would like to keep as a surprise for now but I believe the songs on the album will ‘HIT’ bangers,” she hinted.

Meanwhile, Abrewa Nana is currently in the studio working with legend producer, Zap Mallet and also intends working with Appietus among other Ghanaian and international producers.

Far from music, the Dancehall Queen is also working on a Breast Cancer project as a “quota of my Social responsibility to educate women in the entire nation and to likewise let the public know that it’s not a disease of only women.

But also men has a high risk of being affected as well as winning babies as proven by research,” she disclosed.

“I am indeed grateful to the Lord Almighty for how far He has brought me and thank you to all Ghanaian DJs and Presenters who has appreciated my music and given me respectable air time on their various platforms for the world to hear my voice and works again not forgetting my fans and every music lovers,” she said.

Follow Abrewa Nana on Twitter, @AbrewaNa9; Instagram on @Abrewa-Nana and Facebook Abrewa Nana and like my Fan Page as well.

Musical background

Abrewa Nana became a favourite among radio DJs, and her collaboration with Sass Squad ‘Tuma’ received huge airplay.

However, it was her first album, 'Sagoa', in 2000 that launched her to national fame, and she earned three nominations at the Ghana Music Awards for Female Artiste of the Year, Rap Song of the Year and New Artiste of the Year.

In 2001, Abrewa Nana won an award for Hiplife Song of the Year and was named Best Female Vocalist in 2002.

The same year, Abrewa Nana released her second album, ‘African Girl’, to critical acclaim, and in 2003, she was named Best Female Artiste of the Year at the Ghana Music Awards UK. Her third album, ‘Maba’, followed in 2004, and she is currently working on a new album.

Abrewa Nana is also a dancer and famous for her heavily choreographed videos. She has worked with artistes including Samini,

In 2007, it was announced that she would be a judge on ‘Idols West Africa’, alongside the Nigerian Dede Mabiaku and the American Dan Foster; at twenty-seven, she was one of the youngest judges in Idols' history.

Although the producers of the show were determined to portray her as the 'nice one', Abrewa Nana was determined to ‘be myself’.

The show was a rating success and made Nana popular outside Ghana. Apart from being the only female judge, she was well known for her catchphrase, “It doesn't work for me.”

FOUNDER OF ‘CASTRO AMANIHUNU’ MOVIE PRODUCTION HOUSE TO SUE BROTHER

Two brothers, both movie producers, are at war over the production of a movie, ‘Castro Amenihunu’ with one threatening to take legal action against the other.

The poster of the movie suspected to be based on the disappearance of Hiplife musician Castro, born Theophilus Tagoe, has been circulating on social media for some time now.

Castro and his female companion, Janet Bandu went missing during jet skiing in the waters of Ada on Sunday, July 6, 2014.

The yet-to-be-released movie has received a lot of flak from critics who say the movie is in bad taste.

Samuel Odame Jnr, whose contact details are on the movie poster, speaking on Rhythmz A-Z on Joy FM with Mamavi Owusu Aboagye on Saturday, said, “I never in any way produced any movie like 'Castro Amenehunu'.”

According to him, “Odame World Film Productions is the name of my production house but I never in any way or by any chance give anyone the go-ahead to produce a movie in the name of my production house and put my contact details on it, but later on I realised that it was my younger brother in Kumasi who produced that movie.”

Samuel Odame Jnr revealed that, his brother, Douglas Odame, “did not inform me that he will be using the name of my production house for that matter I am going to sue him.”

“I don’t know what came into my brother’s mind to do that without my consent so I don’t really care whether he is my brother or not, I have sued him, and very soon he will be brought before the law.”

Asked about background in movie production, Samuel Odame Jnr said he studied movie production in India, and he is solely into Hindi movies.

He revealed that, he started his production house in 2009 and will be releasing some of his movies later this year.

Douglas Odame also speaking on the matter on Rhythmz A-Z admitted that he has produced a movie with the title ‘Castro Amanihunu’ but said he is yet to release it.

He agreed Samuel Odame is his brother but denied using his production house to produce any movie.

He clarified that, his production house is Odame Films and not Odame World Film Productions.

Douglas said due to the unfortunate developments and allegations after the poster of the movie leaked online; he didn't not want to go into details of the storyline of the ‘Castro Amanihunu’ movie.

Reacting to criticisms that the movie may touch on sensitive nerves considering the unfortunate development of Castro's disappearance, Douglas retorted that the Hiplife musician is not the only person by name Castro and that one of his friends even owns a production outfit by name Castro Productions.

CHASE PLANS TOUR WITH GERMAIN AND OTHERS

Following the successful launch of his debut album, Unappreciated, about two weeks ago, RnB singer, Chase has revealed an upcoming nationwide tour featuring himself and a host of other RnB stars.

Some of the artistes billed on the show are Jon Germain, Chemphe and Qweci formerly Ded Buddy. The tour will mainly be targeted at selected Senior High Schools and tertiary institutions across the country.

In an interview with Graphic Showbiz, Chase revealed that apart from the collective tour by the RnB artistes, he is planning an individual tour that is aimed at giving his massive fanbase a feel of what he has to offer.

Chase described performing on stage as an art form just like shooting videos and as such, was disappointed with the poor level of organization at most events.

“A lot of times, promoters are not ready to respond to requests especially from RnB artistes and this is the reason I decided not to take part in any concerts for a while. Sometimes, you ask event organisers to turn off or dim the lights, and they refuse, fearing the lights might not comeback on afterwards,” he said.

Chase added that at the moment, sales of his maiden album have been impressive, in terms of copies bought on the day of the launch and online platforms such as iTunes, adding that, he expected sales to go up even further considering the nature of the songs he does.

“I have noticed that most of my songs take time to reach my audience, so I can release a song, and it would take six months to become a hit but when it does, it gets played on air constantly.

“For instance, my song Fire took some time to get through to the general public but it is still enjoying airplay almost two years after its release,” he added.

PASTOR LOVE NEVER LIED ABOUT OBAAPA CHRISTIE'S SECRET AFFAIR?

Rumour circulating indicates that award-winning gospel musician, Christiana Love now known as Obaapa Christie has re-married after her divorce with her ex-hubby, Pastor Love, General Overseer of the Life Power Miracle Church.

Obaapa is said to have settled with one Nana Asante, who was at the center of the Obaapa Christie-Pastor Love marriage brouhaha.

Earlier this year when Obaapa lodged a complaint against her former husband for emotional and psychological abuse at the Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit (DOVVSU) of the Ghana Police Service.

Pastor Love who made some brazen accusations that the man, Nana Asante, who was at the center of all the troubles in their marriage which made the news years ago, is currently living together with Obaapa Christy in Germany.

The two fly to Ghana often together, and many people have confirmed seeing them together in Germany and Ghana, he claimed.

According to him, Nana Asante is the man who had an affair with his gospel singer wife in Germany while they were still married with kids in Ghana and he was the reason for their break up.

Pastor Love, continued, “all the things I said about her in the media in 2011 were true and everybody can see it now. She disgraced me on Adom FM and said a lot of things to cover her bad deeds but thank God that Ghanaians see it now.

Most of the gospel musicians are aware of this and in Germany, people know that all what I said is the truth, and I never lied.”

OMG!Ghana.com tried reaching Obaapa Christie before press time but were not successful

I DON’T MAKE MOVIES FOR UPPER CLASS FOLKS -FRANK RAJAH ARASE

Filmmaker, Frank Rajah Arase, has revealed some of his marketing secrets in the film industry, saying he doesn’t target the upper class in society when he produces or directs.

The Nigerian-born Ghanaian director, who is known for his movies such as 'Beyonce', 'The President’s Daughter', 'Somewhere In Africa', 'Cheaters' and 'Iyorie' among others, says it is because the upper class doesn’t patronise local movies.

“They don’t buy CDs. They are those who have DSTVs in their homes and watch all kinds of programmes and Hollywood movies. They don’t buy movies,” he told Trailer TV on GhOne TV on Sunday.

However, he added that they prefer to attend movie premieres, purposely to take photos with stars and post them on social media for various reasons.

According to Frank, one of the basic marketing strategies for him in the movie business was to know his target audience and serve their interest.

He said he had always targeted the middle class to get the attention of the lower class.

The lower class, who makeup the majority, he said, buy movies to watch at home though they may not patronise movie premieres or the cinemas.

Frank’s efforts contributed greatly to what is now called Ghana’s movie industry. He directed a number of Ghanaian and Nigerian movies.

His latest film, Iyore, got several nominations for the upcoming Golden Icons Academy Movie Awards (GIAMA) in USA in the categories; Best Motion Picture, Best On-Screen Duo, Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Director.

The rest of the categories included Producer of the Year, Best Cinematography, Best Sound, Best Costume and Best Makeup.

I BEAT OZOKWOR AT HER OWN GAME - KYEIWAA

If there is anything that Ghanaian actress Kyeiwaa and Patience Ozokwor from Nigeria have in common, it is that both of them are known for their movie bad roles.

In a new movie Mama Africa produced by Paul Gee, it seemed as if they were competing against each other to determine who was “bladder."

Kyeiwaa, who had always wanted to act alongside Patience Ozokwo, believes she did better than Patience in the movie.

“I have always wanted to meet Patience Ozokwor and prove to her that I am Kyeiwaa, and I did just that on our latest movie. I know Ozokwor is a good actress, and I have always wanted the chance to prove to my fans that I am better. I went all out in the movie, and people who have seen the movie say I killed it," Kyeiwaa told Showbiz

Kyeiwaa said before she entered the movie scene, she had always admired Ozokwor. “Patience Ozokwor is a good actress whom I admired and had desired to work with for a long time and that is the reason I went all out in our latest movie."

Movie producer Paul Gee told Showbiz he featured Patience Ozokwor and Kyeiwaa because movie enthusiasts wanted to see the two act together.

“Patience Ozokwor and Kyeiwaa are both good in what they do and that was the reason I decided to pair the two in my movie. I must admit that they did so well in the movie and now the public are the ones to judge who actually did well” Paul Gee said.

The movie features actors such as Akrobeto, Lil Win and Maame Serwaa.

In the movie, Akrobeto, who was married to Kyeiwaa travels to Nigeria to find greener pastures after not being able to take care of his family.

Things become difficult for him until he meets Patience Ozokwor, who promises to help him only if he marries her.

After two years of marriage in Nigeria, Akrobeto runs from Ozokwor to be with his wife Kyeiwaa in Ghana.