Gollywood has now become the official name for the Film Industry in Ghana. This took effect after a launch on July 12, 2018 at the Accra International Centre.
Despite suggestions like Nyamedua, Anansekrom, Ghallywood, Ghallygold etc. the stakeholders of the film industry finally decided on ‘’GOLLYWOOD’’ at the Ghana 60 Years on Film Summit.
The movie industry has kept many people glued to their seats in recent times. This has contributed to the promotion of Ghana’s culture through the broadcasting and production of movies to the world at large.
As part of bringing entertainment and education to its viewers, Gollywood has managed to bring out the inward potential of individuals. Employment for masses has become the hallmark in the film industry.
Unveiled by the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts, MRS. Elizabeth Ofosu Agyare, during an interaction with stakeholders in the Industry, she made mention of the fact that, as part of the initiative of the government of Ghana and government of Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA’s) Collaboration to help address some needs and problems facing the creative arts industry, the former president of Ghana, John Dramani Mahama released an amount of GHC1 million, in 2016, into the industry.
It was stated clearly that the focus of the release of such an amount of money, was a part of the policy to invest GHC3 million into the creative arts industry to create job avenues for masses in the country.
Based on this, the government has set up a ministry to handle the direct employment of people in the industry.
As part of employment given to masses, the National Film and Television Institute has been established to train and develop students scholarly, creatively and be given professional approach to film making and television production. Many students therefore graduate to occupy the film industry in Ghana.
In addition to training given, the NAFTI Library houses the largest book stock of about 25,000, and film and television materials to enhance the provision of training to students by professionals. This has ensured the smooth running of training in the institute and guaranteed efficient students graduate from the institution.
Currently, the Ghana Film Industry has managed to climb up the ladder by being given the opportunity to partake in the Academy Awards at the Oscars in 2018, in the United States of America. With Ghana playing a key role in the Global Film Entertainment Market, an amount of about $90.6 billion in 2010 and nearly $100 billion in 2012 was generated.
In recent times, the large number of actors and actresses that have moved into the production of movies is rather encouraging.
Many are now moving into various fields of the industry, which includes Selasie Ibrahim producing SHACKLES, Lydia Forson’s MASQUERADERS, Yvonne Nelson with SINGLE AND MARRIED, just to mention a few. The multiple roles played by these characters depicts the diversity in the film industry.
Over the years, the movie industry has encountered various financial challenges. Many investors and characters have anticipated the financial compression. The Young Films Production sought for support on several occasions from the government for developmental purposes.
The recent involvement of Zylofon Media in the Ghana Movie Industry reveals that there is still light at the end of the tunnel with the Industry.
Zylofon Media invested a huge sum of money as of January 2018 to the Founder of the Ghana Movie Awards, Phred Nuamah in exchange of the brand. MR. Phred Nuamah claimed that Zylofon Media came just in the nick of time when support was limited.
The Zylofon Arts Fund, formed under Zylofon Media by the Chief Executive Officer, Nana Appiah Mensah, invested a capital of $1million. The main objective behind the foundation was to provide financial support for the Creative Arts Industry.
ZAF has thus developed a tool to revive the distribution model in the Film Industry for movies the industry has produced especially.
As part of the policy, Distribution Sales Agents have been charged with the responsibility of selling their DVD’s on the market that are either produced by ZAF or by other directors that have come in terms with ZAF.
These personnel’s recruited are 100 from each region sums up to a 1000 in number; a contribution to the reduction in unemployment rate in Ghana at large.
By Stephanie Anyanah
