Kobi Rana laments lack of support, investors, the sabotage of 'so called gatekeepers'

Ghanaian actor, writer, producer and director Kobi Rana has said the apathy exhibited by Ghanaians for local movies and the lack of private investors such as Nigeria is enjoying is a great challenge to the film industry in Ghana.

A singer-songwriter and choreographer also, Rana was with Nana Kwesi Asare on Class 91.3 FM’s ‘The Big Show, Saturday, April 15, 2023.

“It is only a pretender who – for lack of a better word – will say we are not making movies,” Kobi first said.

He listed some of the new films on the Ghanaian market: ‘Freedom & Justice (December 2022), Till Deaf Do Us Part (February 2023), A Taste of Sin (April 2023), among others.

“This Eid, 23rd April, this Sallah, I’m bringing [a new movie called] Insha Allah,” he informed the audience.

Stating that movies are coming out “weeks” apart, with attending radio, TV and social media engagements, he stressed that “it is only the pretender who will say that there are no Ghanaian movies.”

“They see us working so if they want to invest, they will,” he added.

“People will see your stuff on social media, ignore it, they’ll see your stuff on traditional media, ignore it and still go and say the movie industry [in Ghana] is dying. Meanwhile, they’ve seen movies – dope movies,” he noted.

He argued that were he in Nigeria, “Nigeria would have made sure that the whole world hears about me. Nigeria’s social media would make sure they put me everywhere, they’d push me everywhere.”

“If Nigeria made this first African movie with sign language – Till Deaf Do Us Part – and they put it on the Netflix, Ghanaians would have been the highest number of viewers and posters on social media,” Rana argued. “But it came from Kobi Rana so everyone has turned their attention the other way.”

Meanwhile people from “France, US, White, Blacks, Yellow people were posting that movie… Not only people in the deaf community…” he noted, thanking the overwhelming number of patrons who attended the 2023 Valentine's Day Airport View Hotel premiere.

On the bright side, he said endorsement and “advertisement deals” for product placement in movies “do come” to him and other players in the movie industry.

However, “individual investors like [Nigeria’s] Charles [Okpaleke]” are absent, he bemoaned. “So you have to use your money for everything. You have to pay all these artists – everything – crew, accommodation in hotels, the travels – everything.”

He lamented that even promotion after the film production is a “single-handed,” burden and thus thanked “media platforms like Class FM,” who broadcast word about his works and grant opportunities for him to speak concerning them.

He, however, admonished bloggers and social media influencers for their spirited broadcast of “gossip and lies” instead of informing their teeming followers about “the greats works,” in the film industry.

He decried the efforts of “so called gatekeepers,” and media houses who have put some creative arts figures on “their black list,” denying them support.

Kobi Rana has 15 years’ worth of experience in film and entertainment as an award-winning movie, music and dance star.