COMING UP!>>Episode 33: "Towards an African Personality: Has Ghanaian Film, & Media Come of Age?"

33rd Edition:  

Towards an African Personality: Has Ghanaian Film & Media Come of Age?

24 February 2015 is forty-nine years since who is arguably the greatest Pan-Afri can that ever lived – Ghana’s own Osagyefo Dr.Kwame Nkrumah – was overthrown. Instead of using the thirty-third edition of the Show talking about the coup, we, instead, want to use it to reflect on an important component of the “African personality” – that of Film, and Media.

We are happy to be having this conversation on this day in the special month of February, where we not only celebrate chocolates in Ghana and love worldwide, but Martin Luther King day in the United States; and, even more relevant for today’s show, the US-based Pan-African Film Festival. The Festival – considered by the LA Times in 2013 as “the largest black film festival” in the United States – has had both universal and Africa themes: “the overthrow of colonial governments, the clash between modern values and traditional values, and tales of gifted artists.”

This year’s Pan African Film Festival that spot lighted various films from Nigeria ended with a bang showing more Nollywood films. This spotlight edition which is part of the Project ACT Nollywood Nigeria initiative have made it possible for films from Nigeria, made by Nigerians home and abroad to be shown to the world. Films include detective thriller October 1 by Kunle Afolayan, Invasion 1897 by Lancelot Oduwa Imasuen, LAPD African Cops by Pascal Atuma.

In LAPD African cops, two West African cops in America, who have both recently earned their U.S. citizenship, decide they want to join the Los Angeles Police Department. There’s little tolerance for one of the officers so he’s paired with his fellow countryman, but instead of executing their duties in compliance with LAPD regulations they use their African culture to dictate the rules. Not surprisingly, the Officers are…Officer Naija and Officer Ghana.

If this speaks to anything, it probably serves to remind us of the necessity of both Ghana and Nigeria coalescing to add greater quality to Africa’s film industry! But, then, there is the Media we need to talk about: how far are media houses, such as Global Media Alliance & Homebase TV, come in realizing Pan-African aspirations of a truly Pan-African media?

Join us if you can at 1pm on 24 February, 2015.

Guiding questions

• How instrumental is the director in the making of a successful movie?
• How close are Homebase TV, and ETV Ghana to the realization of a “Pan-African Media” power-house?
• Can we get to the stage where Nollywood & Ghallywood can have a meeting of minds on using film, and media, to project African culture?
• With the likes of Pascal Aka, can it be argued that Ghana & Nigeria have arrived towards the realization of some kind of “African personality”? There is proximity; and cultural similarities!

Guests in the studio:

Ø  Pascal Acka, award-winning movie director/director of “Double Cross”(2014)

Ø  Iposu , Homebase TV

Ø  J.O.T Agyemang , General Manager, ETV Ghana

On the line:

• Mrs.Catherine Appiah-Pinkrah, Director, Ministry of Defence @13h20