Amanda Jissih
AWARD-WINNING Ghanaian radio and television presenter, Amanda Jissih, has lamented statements by some stakeholders in the movie space, which said Kumawood production collapsed the local movie industry.
Amanda Jissih, who is also an actress, stated that any movie maker or stakeholder who blames the Kumawood production for being behind the downfall of Ghana’s movie industry was ungrateful and lacked understanding in the industry.
Amanda disclosed this when she appeared on UTV’s United Showbiz late-night celebrity show.
“Let me be clear with this, Kumawood movie production has and still plays a pivotal role in the movie industry since the time of Agya Koo till now. 98% of movies sold during the era of the DVD/CVD’s were all Kumawood movies,” she said.
“I find it disheartening and sometimes disturbing when some renowned movie stakeholders blame the local movie producers, downplaying Kumawood production with shallow allegations which suggests that they were the downfall of the Ghana movie industry,” she added.
Amanda further alleged that government and some of corporate bodies are not interested in Ghana’s entertainment industry.
“The issue of we don’t produce good movies, our production is very poor as compared to other countries like Nigeria is why we don’t want to invest should not be a matter for discussion today, Ghana has good producers (sic).
“The likes of Leila Djansi, Yvonne Nelson, Shirley Frimpong Manso, Peter Sedufia, Ivan Quashigah and other fantastic movie makers are doing extremely well with their movie production, can’t they also be supported, the investors are not interested period,” she raged.
Amanda further made a call to the government to support the movie industry by establishing more cinemas and creating the enabling environment to commercialise Ghana’s movies globally.
BY Prince Fiifi Yorke