We failed Kumawood, we were too hard on them – Ekow Blankson

Ekow Blankson dissects the fall of Kumawood

Actor calls for support for the movie industry

Ace filmmaker not excited about status of movie industry

Veteran actor, Ekow Blankson has admitted that stakeholders of the movie industry failed Kumawood because their comments were overly critical yet refused to directly get involved in making that aspect of the movie industry flourish.

Movies from Kumasi shot in the local dialect, Twi at some point, saved the industry as it gained popularity and recorded huge patronage. It was later subjected to criticisms by some filmmakers who considered them inferior on the basis that such movies were poorly shot and edited.

Regardless, Kumawood movies saved the industry as they shifted attention from Nigerian movies and created jobs for many. The sector has now taken a nosedive due to a number of reasons. Ekow Blankson who once starred in one Kumawood movie that was not released asserted that the energy should have been channelled into making that sector better.

“We just needed to get involved in it and help them and see where they faulted or where they could have been better,” he said on The Lowdown on GhanaWeb TV.

“All of us, now that we have the National Film Authority, this is the time to get into that industry because it is a form of filmmaking which is good. It has to be done and done right especially if we do our subtitling so well, we can sell it out. It hurts me that we have moved from that area and we are doing other things,” Mr Blankson told host, Nii Akwei.

In his submission, he recalled how his brother in the United States opted for Kumawood movies. Describing the treatment meted out to producers of Kumawood movies as “quite bad”, Mr Blankson said the contribution of such movies to the industry cannot be overlooked.

“I was going to the US on a holiday to visit my brother. He asked that I bring him some movies from Ghana. At that time, I had just done Checkmate. I told him I’d bring that; he said ‘no’, he wants Agya Koo. That shows that even in the diaspora, they really looked up to these Kumawood guys. It was very important because, after a hard day’s work, you want to come back and laugh. The story is still being told but in a different way. So, we were actually being hard on them. Some of us really criticised…” he noted.

In his view, one other reason for the fall of Kumawood movies is that "CDs have really gone out of the system."

"Unfortunately, we have had too many TV stations now, TV stations are not really buying the movies. What they do is a batter. What is that to a producer?" he asked.

Watch the show below.