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Showing posts with label Ghana. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ghana. Show all posts

14 November 2023

AFRICA CINEMA SUMMIT (Ghana) November 2023

AFRICA CINEMA SUMMIT
GHANA
14-16 November 2023


Welcome message from Juliet Y. A. Asante

CEO, The National Film Authority, Ghana:


From the 14 of November, 2023, the Africa cinema summit will bring together players in the space to discuss the opportunities latent in the region. This is a bold step to throw a much needed spotlight on the opportunities for cinema growth and the role that all players have to play. This is part of a cinema agenda strategy by the National film Authority of Ghana to work to impact the space with a pan-African approach.


The Africa Cinema Summit (ACS) is a three - day summit that brings stakeholders from the cinema industry value chain across the world to Africa.


The summit is unique as it is the first of its class to be held in Africa and it focuses on the peculiarities in the African cinema space as well as the challenges and the numerous opportunities the industry offers.


This is a result oriented summit, skewed towards creating a compelling and conducive avenue for participants to network, foster partnerships, generate leads and possibly close deals during the event and thereafter.

10 May 2022

Wunpini Fatimata Mohammed. Globalisation and indigenous cinemas: a history of Ghanaian Dagbanli films


Wunpini Fatimata Mohammed
Globalisation and indigenous cinemas:
a history of Ghanaian Dagbanli films

Source: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13216597.2022.2073256

Abstract
While there has been extensive research on English language media in Ghana, there remains a huge gap in indigenous language media research. Through in-depth interviews with movie industry stakeholders, this article examines the history of indigenous language film in Northern Ghana, paying attention to the evolution of the movie industry and the various cultural flows that have shaped its development. Grounding the study in indigenous African knowledge systems, I present the history of the Dagbanli movie industry. I argue that to understand how the Dagbanli movie industry has been sustained for three decades, it is imperative to examine critically the industry’s history and the innovative strategies filmmakers have employed to keep up with changing trends in technology and aesthetics in the film industry. Filmmakers draw on Dagbaŋ culture (one of the major ethnic groups in Ghana) and film industries in the Global South to address the needs of their audiences while funding their films independently. From these findings, practical and theoretical recommendations are presented to contribute to improving filmmaking and research on indigenous language filmmaking in Ghana.

Wunpini Fatimata Mohammed is an assistant professor of global media at the College of Journalism & Mass Communication at the University of Georgia. She is co-editor of the book, African Women in Digital Spaces: Redefining Social Movements on the Continent and in the Diaspora (forthcoming 2022). Her research which focuses on feminisms, broadcast media, development communication, and political economy of communication have appeared in Communication Theory, Review of Communication, and the Howard Journal of Communications.

20 October 2021

Comfort Arthur: The Underestimated Villain - FESPACO 2021

Animation Films in competition
Comfort Arthur
The Underestimated Villain
Ghana
5min - Animation - 2020


 
 
Description
A short film that takes a satirical approach to malaria advocacy.
 
Meet the underestimated villain... malaria.

She is no ordinary villain, she is a serial killer. Just one suck of blood from a human tye start to experience fever, nausea, headaches, body aches and vomiting... just like that malaria has arrived.

No one is immune from her sting.

This tells the story of an Anopheles mosquito the unstoppable and popular villain. The film uses humour and poetry to explore the failures in human behaviours through the mosquito’s perspective.  Poetra Asantewa creates a beautiful and engaging poem that coupled with the animation makes for powerful viewing.


Source: Zero Malaria Starts with Me

Bio
Comfort Arthur is a British-born Ghanaian animator, illustrator, and visual artist
 

06 June 2021

Ampe: Leap into the Sky, Black Girl by Chineze Okpalaoka and Claudia Owusu (Ghana and Columbus, Ohio)

Ampe: Leap into the Sky, Black Girl

The June 2021 post originally featured the Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign announcement (see below). The added text reflects the release of the film Ampe: Leap into the Sky, Black Girl in 2022.
Image: Film poster

Synopsis
Set in the sister cities of Accra, Ghana, and Columbus, Ohio, Ampe: Leap into the Sky, Black Girl is a rhythmic love letter to Black girlhood across the African diaspora. Through the lens of the Ghanaian traditional jumping and clapping game, Ampe, the film takes us on a journey of sisterhood, loyalty, and nostalgia in a space created for us by us. 

Documentary makers:
Chineze Okpalaoka and Claudia Owusu directed the film. Chineze, is a Nigerian-American visual artist and Claudia is a Ghanian-American writer and filmmaker, they are both based in Columbus, Ohio. Nigerian-American Ife Oluwamuyide, associate producer with Chineze Okpalaoka, wrote the screenplay along with Claudia Owusu.

 


Description from Indiegogo: 
"Ampe Study", which follows the journey of Black girlhood through the lens of the Ghanaian traditional game ampe. Ampe is a rhythmic, high-energy game played by girls in Ghana, West Africa. It includes jumping, clapping, and an all-around cheer and hype as two teams select a stepping pattern and face off. The teams have leading players, referred to as “the mothers'', who start the game and encourage players to compete at their best. The innate joy and competitive edge of ampe reveals the desire that Black girls have to not only be set free, but to also feel a range of emotions without judgement.

For more information on the crowdfunding campaign and to make a contribution to support the research and production of the film: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/ampe-study-or-leap-into-the-sky-black-girl. While the crowdfunding campaign is now closed, the link is still active.

Writer/Filmmaker Claudia Owusu has created a series of videos on Vimeo to discuss the project focus, its objectives, treatment, and conceptulization.

Ampe Study - Project Focus from Claudia Owusu on Vimeo.

Image created from Facebook photo.

23 February 2020

Festival Films Femmes Afrique 2020 - Eden Tinto Collins, Gystere Peskine: WOMXN

Eden Tinto Collins, Gystere Peskine
WOMXN
Ghana | France - 2019 - 5 min - Experimental




Synopsis

Jane Dark vit dans le Noir-et-Cher. Quand la Police d’Europe Normale menace sa communauté, elle devient la super-SHE-ro WOMXN aidée par son amie Dauphin en provenance du vaisseau spatial : Le Kora Mère !

Jane Dark lives in the Noir-Et-Cher. When the Europe Normale Police threatens her community. She becomes the super shero WOMXN helped by her cohort Dauphin from the spaceship KORA Mother.

Biographies

Eden Tinto Collins est originaire du Ghana, Adrien Gystere Peskine est afro brésilien. Elles vivent en France ; plasticiennes, musiciennes, elles ont créé #Vouslaurezvoulu, collectif à échelle variable... itinérant et activiste de sa conscience afrodescendante. Eden est récemment diplômée des Beaux Arts, Gystere lui, sort en 2020 son album "A Little Story" chez Sodasound.

Eden Tinto Collins from Ghana, lives in France and recently received a diploma from the school of Beaux Arts.

Adrien Gystere Peskine, afro-brazilien French, released the album "A Little Story" at Sodasound.

31 October 2019

Ndiva Women’s Film Festival 2019: Dark Spot by Sandra Essel (Ghana)

Ndiva Women’s Film Festival 
(Ghana)

Dark Spot (2017)
Sandra Essel
Ghana
Fiction

Synopsis
Verona finds out the reason behind her husband's lack of satisfying her in bed sexually and takes a hasty action. (10 min)

Biography
Sandra Essel went to Creativeland School of Film and Media Arts; afterwards she joined MK Content/Casting, and has also worked with acclaimed directors such as Clement Kofi Amish (Ghana), Linda Brooke Edith (Ghana). She worked as a script supervisor on the Ghanaian film In 3 Days and the short film Broken Wing. In addition, she was production assistant for the Netflix-BBC project “Black Earth Rising”.

Ndiva Women’s Film Festival 2019: Trapped by Erica Owusu-Ansah (Ghana)

Ndiva Women’s Film Festival 
(Ghana)


Trapped
Erica Owusu-Ansah
Ghana
Fiction

Synopsis
Emefa, is in an abusive marriage with Kwame. She assumes that Kwame's abusive nature is as a result of their childlessness. She gets pregnant and assumes that the baby will be able to save their marriage but it does not.

Biography
Erica Owusu-Ansah, filmmaker, writer and director, is CEO of Golden Arrow Productions.

30 October 2019

Ndiva Women’s Film Festival 2019: Remnants by Hannah Awo Bonney (Ghana)

Ndiva Women’s Film Festival 
(Ghana)


Remnants (2018)
Hannah Awo Bonney
Ghana
Documentary



Synopsis
This film explores the cultural and historical impact of the TransAtlantic slave trade in Ghana. In Ghana, the story of the slave trade is not popular or widely talked about. People feel uncomfortable having conversations regarding this dark past and memories associated with it although they did not experience it. (42 min).

Biography
Hannah Awo Nkeba Bonney, currently a lecturer at the National Film and Television Institute (NAFTI) in Accra, graduated from the same institution and later proceeded to the Kunsthochschule für Medien in Germany for her post graduate studies.

Ndiva Women’s Film Festival 2019: A Thousand Needles by Nikitta Adjirakor (Ghana, Germany)

Ndiva Women’s Film Festival 
(Ghana)


A Thousand Needles (2018)
Nikitta Adjirakor
Ghana, Germany
Documentary

Synopsis
A Thousand Needles is a short documentary film on women’s health. It chronicles the journey of a lead character, exploring the effects of women’s sexual and reproductive health issues such endometriosis and uterine fibroids on her life. The story unfolds especially through monologues, artistic visuals and poetry.


Biography

Nikitta Adjirakor who is Ghanaian by birth is currently a PhD candidate in Literatures in African Languages at the University of Bayreuth, Germany.  A writer herself, her interests and background lay in words manifested through different mediums such as music, poetry, novels and film. The concept of the film was built from one of her poems which shares the same title as the film. Having lived with varying sexual and reproductive health issues since she was 13, this film serves a platform for her to reveal the often times, invisible realities of sexual and reproductive health issues. The film forms part of an eponymous concept project she is working on which merges different creative art forms in creating awareness about women's health.

Ndiva Women’s Film Festival 2019: Ha jan bana by Cecilia Oppong-Badu (Ghana)

Ndiva Women’s Film Festival 
(Ghana)


Ha jan bana
Cecilia Oppong-Badu
Ghana
Fiction

Synopsis
Two women fight for the rights of the citizens by suing the state amid death threats by people who are likely to be affected if the judge rules in favour of them.

Biography
Cecilia Oppong-Badu, enrolled at the National Film and Television Institute Ghana, worked for TV3 Network Ltd as a Producer/Director for fourteen years. She manages her company Cobvision Inscape Ltd, a media production house. In addition, she has produced several commercials and documentaries for Samara Group, Galaxy Int. School among others. (Source: https://www.freshcraftseries.com/who/participants/#cecilia)

29 October 2019

Ndiva Women’s Film Festival 2019: Before the Vows by Nicole Amarteifio (Ghana-USA)

Ndiva Women’s Film Festival 
(Ghana)


Before the Vows (2018)
 Nicole Amarteifio
Ghana-USA
Comedy

Synopsis
Set in the capital of Ghana, the film captures the relationship between a happy couple, Nii and Afua, as they navigate the anxiety of their upcoming nuptials and question what it takes to ensure a long and happy marriage. The story reflects a modern-day African love story that can be universally understood by millennials around the world. (88min)

Biography
Nicole Amarteifio is an acclaimed TV/film producer cited in The Financial Times "Top 25 Africans to Watch" list, after a successful launch of the hit web series 'An African City', dubbed by CNN and the BBC as Africa's answer to 'Sex and the City'. Nicole is pursuing TV/film projects full time, after a successful career in international development, including her role as the first ever social media strategist for the Africa Region at The World Bank. In 2018, Nicole premiered her first feature film, a romantic comedy called 'Before the Vows', at the New York African Film Festival, followed by the American Black Film Festival, the Pan-African Film Festival, Toronto Black Film Festival and the AFI Silver New African Film Festival. She has several projects in development. (Source: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm5106979/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm)

NDIVA Women's Film Festival (NWFF) 2019 - Accra, Ghana - 30 October - 02 November

NDIVA Women’s Film Festival (NWFF) 2019
Accra, Ghana
30 October - 02 November

NWFF is a film festival that aims to create artistic platforms for the presentation of work by, for and about African women.

Opening Ceremony: Wednesday 30 October, 17h

Opening Film: Many Love by Rediat Abayneh (Ethiopia)

Special Feature: Before the Vows by Nicole Amarteifio (USA/Ghana)

Writ(ing) Women
A Panel Discussion: Writing For-By-About Women

Talking #MeToo: Women, Film and Sexual Harassment


FILM SELECTION

I am Sheriff by Teboho Edkins (Lesotho)
Can We Die in September by Kingsley K. Antwe (Ghana)
North to South by Coniah Mouiche (Ghana)
Engulfed by Kojo Owiredu Kissi
The Sound of Masks by Sara CF de Gouveia (South Africa, Portugal, Mozambique)
She Her Woman by Lauren Abdallah (Ghana)
Sunday by Angella Emurwon (Uganda)
Determined by Miriam Safowaa (Ghana)
Hardened by Prince Adu Mensah (Ghana)
Aku Grace Naa Atswei Adjetey (Ghana)
Tempered Glass by Nana Serwaa Akosa (Ghana)
Trapped by Erica Owusu-Ansah (Ghana)
In Search by Beryl Magoko & Jule Katinka Cramer (Germany, Kenya)
Morning Ride by Omar Nana Owusu (Ghana)
Voiceless Pain by Charles Addo (Ghana)
Rumba in the Jungle, the return by Yolanda Keabatswe Mogatusi (South Africa)
Shame of Puberty by Ojok Francis Odong (Uganda)
Black Queens by Nii Ofei-Kyei Dodoo (Ghana)
Dark Spots by Sandra Essel (Ghana)
Provence by Kato De Boeck (Belgium)
Mayfair by Sara Blecher (South Africa)
Shadow of a Doubt by Emmanuel Boakye (Ghana)
Dear Self by Marion Mills
Silent Titans by Magdalene Quarshie (Ghana)

31 October 2018

Ndiva Women’s Film Festival 2018: “Living Legends”, Akosua-Asamoabea Ampofo, USA

Ndiva Women’s Film Festival 
(Ghana)


Living Legends, 2018
Akosua-Asamoabea Ampofo
USA
Documentary




Profile/Description
Akosua Asamoabea Ampofo is a film student at Bryn Mawr College and also a client at Blue Sage. On April 21, 2018, she filmed a project at Blue Sage called "Living Legends".

This is how Akosua describes it: "This film project seeks to follow the journey of hip-hop as a means to express some of the sentiments and social influences of rap and hip hop and how it has been and continues to be used as a mouthpiece to tell the stories of young black people (in particular), by following a Philadelphia based rap group called Hardwork Movement. Hardwork Movement is a group that “is inclusive, original, and inspires all listeners to strive towards uniqueness in all that they do”. In order to see how these themes in rap have been communicated to people, this film will also talk to people in the Philadelphia area, discussing the legacy of hip hop and what it means to them as individuals and as members of the greater American community."
(Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-e8R7d9_WMc)

Ndiva Women’s Film Festival 2018: “Instincts”, Cecilia Oppong-Badu, Ghana

Ndiva Women’s Film Festival 
(Ghana)


Instincts
Cecilia Oppong-Badu
Ghana
Fiction


Synopsis
Akosua Prempeh is awakened to the realization that in spite of her success in business, her family will consider her an unworthy woman if she does not get married. Akosua is in a dilemma of choosing Owen, her expatriate partner who seems the most eligible bachelor or Kwame, her supplier of artifacts who appears abrasive and coarse in mannerisms.

Profile
Cecilia Oppong-Badu carries out the duties of the chief justice on the NAFTI (National Film and Television Institute) Student’s representative council.

Ndiva Women’s Film Festival 2018: “Red”, Comfort Arthur, Ghana

Ndiva Women’s Film Festival 
(Ghana)


Red, 2018
Comfort Arthur
Ghana
Animation

Synopsis
Red is a semi-biographical short film about the filmmaker’s childhood memories of her father.

Biography
Comfort Arthur is a British Ghanaian Animator, Illustrator, Editor, Writer and Actress. Winner of Best Animation at the GMA 2016 and AMAA nominee 2016. (Text from Facebook Page)

Ndiva Women’s Film Festival 2018: “The African Who Wanted to Fly”, Samantha Biffot, Gabon

Ndiva Women’s Film Festival 
(Ghana)


The African Who Wanted to Fly
Samantha Biffot
Gabon
Documentary


Synopsis
The African Who Wanted to Fly tells the incredible true story of Luc Bendza, a young Gabonese boy who discovers Kung Fu after watching the film The Big Boss and deciding he wants to “fly” like Bruce Lee and devote his life to the martial arts. At the age of 15, he sets off for China to make his dreams come true. He joins the prestigious wushu martial arts academy, and under the tutelage of Grand Master Meng Huifang, Luc eventually becomes number one in an art form that had previously never counted an African in its midst.

Biography
In 2010 Samantha Biffot cofounded Princesse M Productions. She wrote and directed the series "L'oeil de la Cité", which was awarded the best TV series prize at Fespaco in 2013. In addition, she co-wrote and directed the adaptation of the successful Gabonese TV show "Parents Mode d'Emploi".

Ndiva Women’s Film Festival 2018: “Xoese”, Gloria Eva Adotevi, Ghana

Ndiva Women’s Film Festival 
(Ghana)


Xoese
Gloria Eva Adotevi
Ghana
Fiction

Synopsis
An ex-convict is out of prison with high hopes of starting life afresh but a is met with hostility from her family and community.

Biography
Gloria Eva Adotevi is a freelance filmmaker as well as office manager for the Ndiva Women’s Film Festival.


Ndiva Women’s Film Festival 2018: “Mira”, Najaat Hussein, Ghana

Ndiva Women’s Film Festival 
(Ghana)


Mira, 2018
Najaat Hussein
Ghana
Experimental


Description
A girl forced out of her dreams due to a superior command.

Profile

Najaat Hussein is a film-directing student of National Film and Television Institute (NAFTI), she participated in FACE OF NAFTI beauty pageant and film contest organised by NAFTI's Student Representative Council abbreviated NSRC. NSRC trained Najaat and gave her all the needed support to shoot her own film just as it did to all nine contestants. Najaat won the film-making contest and beauty pageant with her film; MIRA. (Source: https://filmfreeway.com/Mira-1)

Image: Compiled from screenshots of film

Ndiva Women’s Film Festival 2018: “Whispering Truth to Power”, Shameela Seedat, South Africa

Ndiva Women’s Film Festival 
(Ghana)


Whispering Truth to Power, 2018
Shameela Seedat
South Africa/Netherlands
Documentary

Description
Whispering Truth to Power” tells the dramatic story of Thuli Madonsela, South Africa’s first female Public Protector. It’s an official position similar to an Ombud. Madonsela fought against corruption amongst the country’s most powerful politicians at great personal cost.

The film is part portrait; we see her as a boss, mother, and public hero. It also plays out as a gripping political dramaMadonsela ends her last year in office with a dramatic final battle against the country’s President, who has been accused of colluding with a wealthy family to “capture the state.”

Biography
Shameela Seedat is a human rights law specialist turned filmmaker from South Africa. Since she began documentary filmmaking, Seedat has been commissioned by various local and international television stations. “Whispering Truth to Power” is her feature-length debut.

Ndiva Women’s Film Festival 2018: “Edwen, Grey Hair: Blessing or Curse”, Elsie Obeng Kwakye, Ghana

Ndiva Women’s Film Festival 
(Ghana)


Edwen, Grey Hair: Blessing or Curse, 2018
Elsie Obeng Kwakye
Ghana
Documentary

Synopsis
Edwen, Grey Hair: Blessing or Curse, tells the plight of six less privileged aging women from a shantytown in Accra and the Gambaga witches camp. The documentary touches on the lives of these women from childhood through adulthood and narrows it down to their present situations as less privileged aging women living in a developing country. Also, it digs down into that ugly part of culture, that has put the lives of some of these women in danger: infringing on their basic human rights and how some of these women have lived decades in fear in this 21st century and have left several others on the run (fleeing from their homes) and displaced. (Source: Vimeo)

Profile
Elsie Obeng-Kwakye obtained a BFA Film/Television Production at NAFTI in Ghana. She directed the innovative show Mystery Basket Junior, a children’s cooking show produced by Eisle Produktion.

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