In the said story, Yvonne Nelson accused the Ghana Actors Guild GAG for doing nothing when she was banned by the Film Producers Association of Ghana, FIPAG in 2010. Quoting: ““When my issue (ban) came up, the Actors Guild did nothing for me. They only came, sat, had some meetings and that was all. They did nothing for me. I kept quite but have to come out finally” Yvonne revealed on ‘Hang Out with KOD’ hosted by KOD on Gh One.
The story was reviewed on Neat fm today, Tuesday 18th Feb, 2013. When Kwasi Aboagye, host of the programme called the Ghana Actors Guild, Mr. Nii Odoi Mensah, he confirmed his side of the story as reported by GhanaCelebrities.Com earlier.
Mr. Odoi revealed further on Neat fm “as at the time her issue came up, she was not attending the guild’s meetings and even after the issue died, she still hasn’t attended any of our meetings! Yet, we intervened and had several meetings on her behalf! Today she is accusing us for not doing anything! That is how ungrateful human beings are.”
Socrate Sarfo, who was the Public Relations Officer of FIPAG in 2010 when Yvonne Nelson was banned, was also called for his reactions on the story. “Yvonne is right! She is right because she never attended the series of meetings the Ghana Actors Guild had with FIPAG!”
According to an article film-maker Leila Djansi published, she spent almost half a million dollars on her movie-Sinking Sands in Ghana alone and in fact, she lost money on that production…
In the said blog post, she wrote;
“I spent, excluding marketing and finishing, almost 500,000 dollars in Ghana alone. I laid out a good amount of money for the marketing of the film. Some was spent on the marketing, Senanu Gbedawo enjoyed the rest. The theater was empty. I lost money. if I hadn’t found a buyer here in the States, I don’t know what I’d have done.”
In the same post, Leila Djansi who Socrate Sarfo has once said she was his student (apprentice) on film set threw some daggers and some landed on Socrate Sarfo’s doorsteps.
Based on which Director’s movie is trending, the person mostly wins the known movie awards and if you are a sceptic like me, you will definitely not even believe the genuineness of many of these awards that get handed out…
Last year’s Ghana Movie Awards also failed to give us any strong indication as to who is leading the game—awarding two of the Directors below with their Best Director award.
Let’s forget the technical language if we do not understand them and invoke our individual honesty by voting for who we think is the Best Ghanaian Movie Director—-based on the many Ghanaian movies we’ve seen.
*By Ghanaian Movie Director, the person must have been working in the Ghanaian Movie industry, no necessary a Ghanaian by citizenship*
Vote Below Now and let’s settle the debate once and for all…
I am not a TV addict and I stand to be correct on this….Has anyone seen any of these Mexican soap operas with poor translations being shown on any UK TV channel? Even if they are shown out here (which I doubt anyone will do), no single soul will be glued to his or her … Read more
At an event held in Accra to unveil the trophy to be used for the maiden edition of the Africa Magic Viewers Choice Awards were Award Winning Ghanaian Director-Shirley Frimpong Manso, Actresses Jackie Appiah & Joselyn Dumas, Producer-Ken Attoh and Actor Majid Michel & wife… This was after the announcement of nominees on Monday by … Read more
The president has created a new ministry or minister-designate as he promised for the creative industry. Therefore, the creative industry is no longer under the umbrella of Chieftaincy and Culture. There is now a minister-designated to oversee or handle (you choose) the Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts Ministry, Rashid Pelpuo. Socrate Sarfo has expressed his … Read more
Gone are the days when watching Ghanaian movies was a family thing. Nowadays you will be lucky to find a Ghanaian movie to watch with your little ones without being worried about the content or the words being used in the movie. Growing up, the only thing you had to worry about was the … Read more
Contrary to what many people think, there are essentially enough movie directors in Ghana. The only problem is that, they don’t get scripts to direct.
Several reasons have been given for their inability to get scripts. The most common of all the reasons is, they are not fully committed at their job as movie directors, whereas the Nollywood directors are said to be the exact opposite.
From movies released, it appears that movie directors from Nollywood have been offered permanent seats in the Ghana Movie Industry –demoting their counterparts in Ghana to the background. They seem to have taken over their jobs.
The presence of Nollywood movie directors inGhanais very noticeable. Their number is huge and the list is a tall one. If a movie is not directed by Phil Bernard then it will be Ish Thompson or Willie Ajenge or maybe Ofam Okereke. If it is not Ifeanyi Onyeabor and Tchidi Chikere or John Izedonmi then your guess will be right, because it will certainly be Frank Raja Arase or Pascal Amanfo.
And the list keeps growing. Where are the Ghanaian movie directors?
In GhanaCelebrities.Com’s interaction with some of the biggest movie producers inGhanawho pleaded to remain anonymous, they mentioned that top movie producers prefer to offer their scripts to Nollywood movie directors to direct at the expense of the Ghanaians.
The Nigerian directors are said to be very well involved in their jobs but same can’t be said of the Ghanaian directors. The only way to avoid embarrassment or disgrace is to learn. According to the top producers, the Nigerian directors keep updating themselves, something that remains a dream to their Ghanaian counterparts.
Controversial movie maker, Socrate Safo and former President Jerry John Rawlings are incomparable. However, the two can be said to have something in common as their utterances and activities one way or the other get the tabloids busy.
The former is to the entertainment industry what the latter is to politics. Whatever comments the former President makes becomes news. The same way movies produced by Socrate Safo gets everyone talking.
The CEO of Movie Africa Productions, Socrate over the years has earned himself as the most contentious movie maker not only in Ghana but Africa as a whole.
Socrate was on Tuesday arrested and detained for several hours at the Community 18 Police Station for a missing ‘sperm’ on his set.
According to a survey conducted few days ago, a great number of Ghanaians seem to be tired of hearing about certain celebrities’ everyday.
Certain celebs make headlines daily and many trending topics in the media revolve around them. Due to their constant appearances on the media front, some group termed them ‘attention seeking’ celebrities.
Unfortunately, many public figures irrespective of their hard work still go unnoticed, while others hit the front pages, homepages and screens of newspapers, blogs, magazines and TVs day in and out.
The public seems to be growing tired of such ‘attention seeking’ celebrities. When asked which celebrity people are most tired of hearing about : These were the results provided…
If what is being reported below is true, then there will be no more unncessary banning of Ghanaian Actors right? Despite being a pain in the ass, I honestly think Socrate Sarfo has been handling his PRO work very well. FIPAG became prominent as a result of the constant attempt of Socrate to defend and … Read more
Who even cares any more after weeks of ban lifted and ban not lifted stories? Anyway, if you care to know, the PRO of FIPGA, Mr. Socrate Sarfo who came out some few days ago to say FIPAG has not officially lifted Yvonne Nelson’s ban has now confirmed the official lifting of the ban… … Read more
We have read and heard a lot from various industry stakeholders on the controversial ban which was imposed on Actress Yvonne Nelson nearly a year ago. As at now, the state of this ban (whether it is still in force or not) cannot be clearly ascertained.
Film Producers Association of Ghana (FIPAG), the industry machinery behind the ban has strongly insisted that the ban is still in force whiles Abdul Salam-the person Yvonne Nelson was said to have grossly subjected to contempt is saying he has forgiven her. Though Salam’s recent statements to a greater extent suggest that the ban has been lifted, we are still kept in the dark by FIPAG.
Movie Producer Socrate Safo has denied pulling out a gun in Kumasi in a misunderstanding with Twi-speaking actress Mercy Asiedu over the title of his upcoming movie ‘Greedy Bastards’.
The contentious director and producer in a phone conversation with GhanaCelebrities.Com today denied pulling out any gun as reported by NEWS-ONE. Narrating his side of the story, he said in the middle of the shoot of his movie in Kumasi, one of the casts asked to know the title of the movie.
Mind you, most of the movies produced featuring Twi or local actors are not shot with scripts as most of them cannot ‘speak’ and fathom the Queen’s language. Okay, let me put it this way, most of them are comfortable in the local language.
As will be expected, adlibbing becomes the other of the day when working with such group of actors. The most important thing is just brief them on the story line and then shooting begins after agreeing on their fees.
Though, the above does not apply to every Twi or local movie actor, it’s the other of the day. This explains why most of their movies are nothing to write home about with dragged scenes and inappropriate language used in the movies.
Movie makers can commence shooting a movie with a working title sometimes. These titles can be changed or maintained at the discretion of the producer. No actor has any right to argue with a movie producer or director over a title of a movie. This is gross indiscipline on the part of any actor/actress to fight a producer/director over the title of his own movie.
An actor/actress that walks off the set and threatens not to continue shooting can be dragged to court by the producer for redress if there was a contract.
Still on the phone, Socrate answered that, he wants to use ‘Greedy Bastards’ as his title based on the story line. According to him, Mercy Asiedu got angry and requested that, the title be changed since she didn’t want to be invited by the National Security or any radio station for interviews.
Naturally, Ghanaians like talking and complaining but if you know how to deal with them, then, there is no problem at all. It’s an undeniable fact that most movie enthusiasts purchase movies based on the title of the movie. Only a handful can confidently say otherwise.
‘Greedy Bastards’ is one of the terms used by the former president Jerry John Rawlings to describe ministers of his ordained man, President Atta Mills’ government. He has used several terms which movie producers have used as movie titles.
It was glaring at this instances that Socrate Safo, a smart chap with serious business acumen was playing smart to join in the bandwagon of producers who have used some of the terms by the former president to sell their movies. This, was the simple reason why, he wanted to use ‘Greedy Bastards’ though the story line has nothing to do with politics.
It became very evident that, Mercy Asiedu’s stand was because Kyeiwaa who featured in the movie ‘Atta Mortuary Man’ was constantly called by radio stations for interviews after the movie was confiscated by the government citing political connotations in the movie, though the Censorship Board had Okayed the movie to be released on the market for consumption.
Another movie that was seized with the same reason was ‘Oh Uncle Atta’.
It has just been confirmed on Peacefm Entertainment Review by Ghana’s Film Regulation Board, Film Regulation Council and FIPAG’s PRO ‘Socrate Sarfo’ that the ban/side-lining of Ghanaian Actors ‘Kofi Adjorlolo’ and Ekow Smith Asante has been lifted.
According to Socrate Sarfro, the services of Ekow Smith Asante as an Actor can be enaged from today and that of Kofi Adjorlolo can be engaged from 1st June, 2011…
