Audio By Carbonatix
Ghanaian-born Hollywood movie producer and director, Leila Djansi has threatened to quit making movies in Ghana.
The award winning director whose last production, Sinking Sands, recently won three awards, Best Screenplay, Best Make-Up with the movie’s lead actress, Ama K Abebrese also picking up the award for Best Actress In Leading Role at the 7th Annual African Movie Academy Awards (AMAA) ceremony held in Nigeria told Myjoyonline.com the myriad of frustrations she is enduring and why she may quit shooting in Ghana.
Difficulty in working in Ghana
Speaking on location during her latest work, Ties That Bind, in East Legon, Leila narrated that, “Most Ghanaians do not respect artistes and people who are even in the craft of film making do not respect the art of the profession and so the lines are crossing.”
“…It’s very difficult to do good work; it’s very difficult to put a lot of money into good work and then when all the lines start crossing like that where people begin to compare [things], I’m not trying to sound arrogant…I feel that a certain part of the Ghanaian society are not ready for the kind of art that I put out.”
She said since she started working in Ghana, there have been several instances where she has been pushed to the wall, making her work really frustrating.
“I Sing of a Well…hijacking of the movie…a lot of disrespect with I Sing of a Well. Sinking Sands I did not have any problems with Sinking Sands at all,” but revealed that she was bothered during the promotion of the movie where people constantly requested for free tickets, “free tickets don’t make more movies…people don’t support.”
Another reason Leila cited is the habit of Ghanaians to compare movies being produced, stating that, “You don’t compare movies, unless it is a movie of the same theme. You shouldn’t really compare it because film makers are different. Things like that end up fueling strife between film makers,” she emphasized.
Recalling another incident that occurred last year, Leila said, “Socrate Sarfo (another movie director and producer) was trying to sabotage Sinking Sands being at the Ghana Movie Awards [2010]…I don’t need all that energy, its petty.
“The industry is big enough for people to co-habit, so trying to sabotage one person, paying people to write thrash about people on line [internet], calling the offices of [international] actors. Seriously I am not cut out for that, its uncivilized…all these makes me tired,” The award winning director added.
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DISCLAIMER: The Views, Comments, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by Readers and Contributors on this platform do not necessarily represent the views or policy of Multimedia Group Limited.
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