Ghanaian film director, writer, producer and CEO of Sparrows Productions, Shirley Frimpong-Manso has bemoaned the lack of support for the creative sector in the country.
The ‘Perfect Picture’ director said the country’s art sector which has the potential of raking in millions of cedis has received little attention both from the government and corporate sector.
She, however, added that the movie industry in Ghana boomed during the tenure of former President Rawlings but slumped after John Agyekum Kufuor’s presidency.
“I don’t think we are getting enough support from Government when it comes to the art and I’m not talking about the present but I’m talking about for as long as my memory goes back to when Rawlings was and I feel like I saw a lot more on our screens.
“President Rawlings did support the art then because I was young then and I saw a lot more on our screens, the days of showcase in all major languages, TV theatre and ofcourse we have the National Theatre, it seems like every Sunday there was something going on there and we had the trade fair as well,” the award winning film director told Bola Ray on Starr Chat Wednesday.
The award-winning film director added “With President Kuffour, honestly I can hardly say though during his time there was quite a boom in the movie industry. These were the times we did the ‘Adams Apple’, ‘Perfect Picture’, the DVD market at that time was great and we made a lot of money and it seem like a general feel where people had money to spend, they would buy three, four DVDs at a go.”
Frimpong-Manso added that she is yet to see any form of support from the Akufo-Addo led government for the Movie industry.
“…11 months into it, I’ve not seen anything. I think the Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture is quite active and I’ve seen her engage in a lot conversation but we’re yet to see the deeds as in the fruits because we’re still talking about the same thing.
“Recently when the budget was read, there were few people who were quite angry about the fact that we weren’t paid particular attention to so there are still problems, the conversations are still happening. I’m still optimistic otherwise, I won’t be able to wake up in the morning.”
Source: Ghana/Starrfmonline.com/103.5FM
