#PODCAST>>Episode 33: Pan-African Film & Media: Towards an African Personality, or a Conversation with Pascal Aka; JOT Agyeman; and Elijah Iposu

EPISODE #33
Research & Co-ordination: E.K.Bensah Jr
Executive Producer: E.K.Bensah Jr

"Dear friends,

We used the thirty-third edition of the Africa in Focus show to take a look at Pan-African Film, and Media.

We spoke to one of the upcoming Ghanaian film directors Pascal Aka, who returned to Ghana four years ago, and is bringing his Canada-trained film-making to bring quality to bear on Ghanaian film--as evidenced by his plaudits for the 2014 film "Double Cross". He urges those within the movie industry to consider the international context, and start writing stories that transcend the local context.

Aka believes we need our Ghanaian film industry to move beyond what he believes are essentially glorified "Akan dramas".

ETV Ghana's JOT Agyemang, a former actor himself, is a seasoned script-writer, having written scripts for Yvonne Okoro; and half-way through a script about the overthrow of Nkrumah (a project that has taken him some two years to write). But JOT is also someone who has turned down a lot of Ghanaian film scripts on account of poor quality. 

He believes so-called nomenclature of "Ghallywood"; and "Nollywood" are unnecessary, as it is divorced from the reality of quality film. Kumawood, in his view, is not film, but "concert party ofn video", though it serves a purpose.

Finally, Homebase TV Ghana's Elijah Iposu, a producer and director, encourages Ghanaians and Nigerians to get back to what our fathers in Nkrumah did by bringing together both Ghanaian and Nigerian film-makers to learn from each other to take Pan-African film to even greater heights, especially at a time Nollywood films are making international waves. 

He encourages Ghanaian film-makers to reduce the "raw" content of their films, so that we can make good movies for Africa, and make money for producers. Even more importantly, we need, in his view, to get to the stage where we can tell a witchcraft story, like Harry Potter, and go beyond ridicule of some of the Kumawood renditions of the same theme!

On the 49th commemoration of Dr.Nkrumah, we had a particularly-entertaining conversation that brought reflections on cinematography; film; media; production; and direction; and infused it with a Pan-African feel.

Please find below a link to the podcast of the full edition of 24 February edition of "Africa in Focus": 
https://www.dropbox.com/s/27ruhvpwjgnk27p/AFRICA%20IN%20FOCUS%20%2024-02-15.mp3?dl=0


We look forward to comments!

In solidarity!"
Emmanuel""