Blame spate of armed robberies, spousal murders on bad films – Filmmakers

Accra (Graphic Showbiz) -- Recent incidents of armed robbery, spousal murders and other forms of violence on women and children in the country have been partly blamed on bad films which are shown on television, at video theatres and in homes.

The Ghana Academy of Film and Television Arts (GAFT), an association of professional filmmakers has said that the country’s cultural values are being drowned through the importation and exhibition of videos, which militate against the Ghanaian psyche.

In a strongly worded statement to the press, signed by its president Rev Chris Tsui Hesse, the renowned Ghanaian film cameraman, director and producer, GAFTA said “the idea of a viable and dynamic film industry as conceived by the founding fathers was to essentially preserve and cultivate our cultural values and traditional heritage.

“Over the years,” the statement continued, “this vision seems to be lost in the maze of commercialism…The propagation of nightmarish situations and the seeds of discord among religions being sown on the minds of viewers – a great number of whom are children, are nothing but a time bomb that could blow in our faces.

GAFTA’s statement stops short of naming any offending films but observers of the local film scene, many of whom have expressed similar concerns, are quick to point to Ghana’s television stations who appear to be competing among themselves to show bizarre scenes of blood, violence, superstition and gangsterism. These films, which are screened under the category of African Movies, are almost always cheap street productions imported from neighbouring countries.

To put the brake on this undesirable development, GAFTA, in its statement, implores filmmakers to come together to pull the local film industry out of the woods. The association said it intends to organize workshops aimed at improving the aesthetic skills of filmmakers. “Every film reflects the consciousness of the one who makes it. Whether he regards himself as an artist, a craftsman or a businessman the filmmaker needs to realize that he is dabbling with a tool that goes a long way to mould or dent national consciousness.”

GAFTA also calls on the state to provide the film industry with adequate support to enable it produce films that contribute positively to national consciousness rather than the “sub-standard and socially dangerous films bombarding the screens of many homes in the country today.”