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The Deputy Minister of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts, Ms. Dzifa
Abla Gomashie has expressed the hope that the 'Film Bill' will soon be
passed into law for the transformation of the industry.
She said the bill, which had been onthe shelves of successive
governments for more than two decades, remained critical to the
revolution of the film industry, which had the potential to market
Ghana's cultural heritage.
Opening a five-day '2015 National Film and Television Institute
(NAFTI) Lectures' in Accra on Monday, she said the bill was currently
before Parliament with the executive awaiting the legislature's
inputs.
The week-long celebration, being organised by the NAFTI, in
collaboration with the Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts Ministry on
the theme, "The Role of the Producers in Sustaining the Ghana Film and
Video Industry," will assess the performance of producers in the
motion picture industry.
Instituted in 2011, it is meant to respond to criticisms of the movie
sector, reform the sector, motivateand award producers who inculcated
standards in their works. Ms. Gomashie, an industry player herself,
said the bill, if passed into law, would not be the panacea to allthe
flaws in the industry but would serve as a means to regulate and
demand the best from practitioners.
The movie industry, she said was large to accommodate every
professional and tasked the industry players to raise the bar and set
the standard.
She commended NAFTI for its collaboration with industry players in
their programmes and called for further partnership to ensure that
students knew the nitty-gritty of the profession before leaving
school.
The Rector of the Institute, Professor Linus Abraham, was optimistic
that the passage of the bill would bring substantial change into the
industry which, in his view, was neglecting standards.
He said the abundance of technology, which was threatening the
existence of movies produced in the 1980s, could spell doom for the
Ghanaian movie industry.
He said "it is important we preserve the audio visual heritage of our
country," and appealed to the Film Producers Association and
benevolent citizens to submit some of the movies produced in the 1980s
for screening.
The Chairman of the occasion and Chairman of the NAFTI Board,
Professor Kofi Anyidoho, said the annual event was important to
keepindustry players on their toes and would remain as part of NAFTI's
key activities.
He said the motion picture industry was critical to the arts industry
and must be treated with all the seriousness it deserved.
Source:ghanaiantimes.com.gh
