Sale of GFI has affected film industry – Rev. Hesse

Accra, Aug. 13, GNA – Reverend Dr Chris Hesse, President of the Ghana Academy of Film and TV Arts, on Friday, bemoaned the sale of the Ghana Film Industry (GFI), saying that, it greatly affected the development of the country’s film industry.

He said the GFI, which was sold to the Malaysians, was purposely set up by Dr Kwame Nkrumah to change the negative perceptions been created about Africans in the western media.

Rev Hesse was speaking at the charity screening of the film “Africans in world war II”, at the National Theatre in Accra.

The film, a collaboration between the Ministry of Chieftaincy and Culture (MCC) and the Africa Media and Democratic Institute (AMDI), was to portray the significant role that African soldiers played during World War II.

The 60 minutes documentary, which was directed by Barima Adu Asamoah, Director, AMDI, also depicts the contribution of Africans in terms of their human and natural resources that were used to support the war, which most of the time, had been downplayed by the western powers.

Rev Hesse said Dr Nkrumah knew the power of film and cinematograph in shaping the African agenda and to tell their own stories, rather than being told by the western countries.

He said Dr Nkrumah also saw acting as a national assignment, which must portray the culture and values of the African people.

“Dr Nkrumah wanted us to create our own films and create our own heroes” he said.

Rev. Hesse said during the Second World War, most of the natives of English speaking countries in West Africa were made to join the West African Frontier Force (WAFF) to fight for their colonial masters.

He said most of the natives, who fought in the war, were made to do because they were under British colonial rule.

Rev. Hesse said even though Cinema was introduced in Ghana in 1903 and later the film production in 1949, the colonial masters were not interested in developing the film industry but rather how to use those medium to control the natives.

Barima Adu Asamoah, Director of AMDI said the objectives of the film show was to remember Africans, who sacrificed their lives for the continent and also led the struggle against colonial rule.

He said the charity screening of the film was to raise founds to support the Ahunda Foundation, which aims at sensitizing the youth against child labour and illegal migration.

He said most of the veterans whom he approached in the course of making the film feel neglected and so the screening of the film provides an opportunity for them to tell their own story.

He said most Ghanaians have failed to appreciate their culture and as such do not place much value on them and this has also affected the youth in the country.