Nana Aba Anamoah
BROADCAST JOURNALIST, Nana Aba Anamoah, has called on film authorities to develop strategies for producing movies in Ghana that spotlight indigenous stories, suggesting this approach could enable Ghanaian films to compete globally with productions like those from Hollywood.
According to Nana Aba Anamoah, many movies produced in Ghana have focused on love and romantic stories, often at the expense of rich cultural narratives like those of the Asante people.
“We are not telling our stories and l don’t know how, but how do we compete with Hollywood, Bollywood when we are telling the same stories like what they are telling?” she quizzed.
Nana Aba further stated that, “you cannot teach somebody how to be romantic. But the Asante story, the Ga story, the Fante story, the Ewe story; they are authentic stories.”
She was shocked that stories like Yaa Asantewaa, Tetteh Quarshie among others have not been filmed. Addressing the issues of lack of funding to produce such stories, Nana Aba Anamoah stated that, “if the story is compelling and exciting, you don’t need to go and look for the money, Netflix will produce it and call it Netflix Original.
“They will adopt it. We will be here and realise that someone from America has produced Yaa Asantewaa movie or Komfo Anokye or Tetteh Quarshie, and we will get people to criticise it.”
Nana Aba’s comments come in the wake of the recently held Asantehemaa’s funeral, which has received widespread acclaim for showcasing the rich cultural heritage of the Ashanti Kingdom.
Thousands of mourners from Ghana and beyond converged at the Manhyia Palace to pay their last respects to the late Nana Ama Konadu Yiadom III, turning the city into a focal point of Ghana’s cultural heritage.
BY Prince Fiifi Yorke