blank
search-icon
CHRIS-VINCENT Writes!

Where Are The Ghanaian Movie Directors? Have They Been Sidelined By Their Nigerian Counterparts?

Leila Djansi
Leila Djansi

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.

So what happened to all the National Film and Television Institute [NAFTI] students who graduate annually? What has happened to the Ernest Kofi Abbeyquayes, the William Akuffos, the Samuel Nais and wife Veronica Quarshie Nai [Princess Films], the Sam Fiscians, the Harry Lauds, the Akwetey Kanyi Ashiagbors, the Bob Smiths (Diabolo Man)?

Their whereabouts is not readily known but most of them have left the movie business whiles some appear jaded or close to bankruptcy.

The only few active directors in Ghana now are Socrate Safo, Augustine Abbey (Idikoko), Shirley Frimpong Manso and Leila Djansi. Each of them only direct movies they produce themselves or movies they are involved in…

This might say a lot about their commitment to their jobs. A school of thought says that, if they are indeed committed to their jobs, why are they not offered scripts to direct? Why are their own compatriots not trusting them with scripts?

I’m aware of a very comical explanation that has crowded the minds Ghanaian movie directors as to why they don’t get scripts from Ghanaian producers apart from directing their own movies.

 

They are not trusted with scripts because it is believed that, they cannot deliver. They also know that, their counterparts will not be pleased with their work, so they shy away from it.

I’m waiting for the day when Ghanaian producers will put their pride and ego away and offer scripts to their counterparts to direct. And such day will be pleasant if the Ghanaian directors are able to efficiently deliver as well.

It is refreshing to know that Kobi Rana is being given the opportunity to direct different scripts apart from his own scripts. The others must step up their game to be able to receive jobs from other producers!



READ ALSO: Refused A UK Visa? CLICK HERE FOR HELP

CLICK HERE to subscribe to our daily up-to-date news!!

POPULAR POSTS

LATEST NEWS

MORE FROM CHRIS-VINCENT Writes!

No related posts found...

35 thoughts on “Where Are The Ghanaian Movie Directors? Have They Been Sidelined By Their Nigerian Counterparts?”

  1. why did you people delete my comment? the reason nafti graduates don’t get jobs is because they are too good and the kpakpa producers do not have time to make the movies the right way. go back and watch old Ghana movies with the old diretors and compare it to the directors you’ve mentioned from Nigeria. no room for comparism at all. Nigerians like it rush. they shoot in two days and the movie is on cd in another weeks. no nafti graduate is ging to do that crap ok. 

    Reply
  2. nigerian directors understand d game better dis shld be a wake up call to ghanaians.who can compete with tchidi chikere,lancelot imasuen and co.nigerians are simply good in whatever we do.

    Reply
    • @marion, Nigerian directors my ass. Was it Ghanaian directors who directed movies like Lady Gaga, Blackberry Babes and those cheap ass movies Nigerians produce. I stoped watching Naija movies a long time ago cos they are so boring. Pls give us a break.

      Reply
  3. This is one of the main reasons why most of our mainstream movies don’t have any Ghanaian element in them.How do we expect our movies to be of high quality wen even the directors we use most are not even recognised in their industry.I have just seen seen someone like Tchidi Chikere direct only one Ghanaian movie yet the mediocre ones like Frank Rajah & John Izedonmi have directed over hundred Ghanaian movies @ the expense of our talented directors like William Akuffo,Godwin Kotey,Veronica, Quarshie etc Dats why I hail Shirley Frimpong Manso & Leila Djansi for their consistency in directing quality movies.As for the likes of Harry Laud & Bob Smith (Diabolo) they better stay away from any movie location cos they’re not any different from Socrate Safo,Kobby Rana etc.

    Reply
  4. i bet all my money on Kobi Rana…i know he will soon be the greatest director Africa will ever have. And look out for Kojo Koskolee…

    Reply
  5. Is this the same leila Djansi who has been isulted basa basa on this same website? haha. Wonders will never end. Nigerian directors might have sidelined us with thier hardwork but when it comes to Leila Djansi, this website in particular and Ghanaians had a bigger hand in sidelining her. Chris you are not ashamed to post Leila’s pic on this topic after what has been said about her over here? 

    Reply
    • @moki, There is nothing WRONG in using Leila’s pic for this post. We have not sidelined her on this website, her problems are however the comments people leave about her and of course we are not to be blamed for such comments. We concur at times, some of these comments are nothing to write home about but there is little we can do in this regards and Leila must understand.

      Nobody is sidelined here, if you want to talk, we will give you the platform. Thanks

      Reply
      • @Posted By: GC Staff,

        No there is nothing WRONG. Your CHOOSING this unflattering pic over others says everything you think of her. Don’t think you can play mind games, please. 

        Reply
    • @moki, i have seen her so many times and she always looks the same. Maybe she should work more on her appearance. Love her tho.

      Reply
      • @Joe Black, she should wear weave of horse hair and use plenty make up? false eyelashes, fake nails, 1 keg of pancake on her face, contact lenses. we have all seen her and she is beautiful. taking a picture of someone from below is never flattering. work on her appearance. did she create herself? if GC claims they are her close friends, then they should have better photos of her. because I have seen her look drop dead gorgeous in her facebook pictures and in real life.

        Reply
  6. Is this the same leila Djansi who has been isulted basa basa on this same website? haha. Wonders will never end. Nigerian directors might have sidelined us with thier hardwork but when it comes to Leila Djansi, this website in particular and Ghanaians had a bigger hand in sidelining her. Chris you are not ashamed to post Leila’s pic on this topic after what has been said about her over here?

     you can say that again. say it again and again!! now this great director has left ghana filmmaking. because they can’t stand the fact that she’s better than shirley, they had to sideline her. just like the salams have sidelined trained directors because he never likes to pay. 

    among all the Leila Djansi pictures, this is the only one they even put up. 

    Reply
    • @hollywood411aisha,

      Mhmm…She was far better than Shirley and that is a problem to a lot of Ghanaians. I have said many times that Leila being Ewe did not sit well with many people. There is little that goes on in Ghana nowadays that does not have tribal undertones. We have to start speaking the truth in that little nation.  The envy in that country is becoming an albatros around our necks. See how Chris blazoones Shirley’s movies on his website. Never mind that its part one to ten! Any other director would have been labelled a thief for even attempting such a thing. I agree with your last point. This was the only picture you could come up with. Even when you try to bring up a good discussion, it is still colored with bias for Leila as evidenced by this picture you chose. 

      Reply
      • @moki, God bless you. it seems Ghanaians are getting outspoken these days. I watched the first 3 and i can’t waste my money anymore. kai! all the abrofusem abrofusem, bad acting, predictable, corny dialogue. she thinks Ghanaians are fools. dats why peacefm gave it to her. 

        Reply
        • @hollywood411aisha you are the ones bringing contempt between these two great ladies.
          The problem is not that leila or Shirley is better than anyone, the problem is people like you
          Complaining about favouritism and yet still coming here and doing same. Movie making is
          Not exam, it’s an art, you may or may not like the artist point of view but that is the whole point
          Isn’t it? I can’t stand such hypocrisy, you complain about the pull me down attitude yet you do same
          Shame on you two. Positiveness breeds goodness… I am sure these ladies have the utmost
          Respect for each other but like ignorant supporters you come here and speak rubbish. If you
          Don’t like the picture direct your grievances at the people who posted it. Shame!

          Reply
          • @Afua Bruce,
            Nobody is bringing about division. We are trying to say things as they are. Do you think this is a flattering pic of Leila? Was this the best picture Chris could find? Shame on YOU! 

          • @moki, nne o! my work on GC today is easy. tenk you bros.

            the only reason there is any contempt between Leila and Shirley is because of how Leila has been treated. simple. all the insult, after each insult is “thats why I like shirley, she’s humble” . na humility persin go eat? all they have against this girl is she’s not humble. she no kill, no steal, no hoes, nothing just humility. why? because she dosnt tolerate crap from anyone.
            the funny thing is that everyone in the industry in Ghana knows shirley to be very rude. snubs people like they are cows. from being sued by miss Ghana for stealing, dishonesty and sexual issues to copying peoples scripts and yet, no one comes here to rubbish her.

            say something good about leila 4 comments. say something bad 180 comments of insult after insult. it was because of the insults that Leila wrote to Chris, but what did he do? he created a better ground for more insult. now you are writing article. apuuto.
            you are the ones who brought the division! the sidelining. so if you are loosing jobs to nigerian directors, shut up and suck it up. the one you have you insult. abegi remove the poor girls picture and put your best directors picture.

      • @moki, Did you say – See how Chris blazoones Shirley’s movies on his website? Come on GC is not a notice board where every news is published. If you have realized we constantly place movie adverts on the site and its a PAID ADVERT.

        The same way, GTV or any of the TV stations will not run promo on a movie for FREE, its the same way we can’t just pick any movie and start promoting it. When you approach us to promote your movie or whatever, we will gladly do that. Leila doesnt want her movies advertised on this site, if not, she would have called us besides, she is a close friend of ours too.

        People must tone down the negativity. Thanks

        Reply
        • @Posted By: GC Staff, I am not posting this to side with one group or the other over favoritism of certain directors. However, when you ask your readers to “tone down the negativity” in their responses to an article that contains no shred of positivity I have to call you out on it. When you set the tone of a discussion as negative, you are going to get negative replies. I read this article several times and ask you to please point out somewhere that is positive or gives a counterpoint to the negative opinion these Ghanaian producers have of their country’s directors (other than your brief reference to Kobi Rana at the end). Once again I point out that you literally talked to a few “Producers” and based a whole article on their’s (and your) opinion. Opinions are like butt holes, we all have them but you can not find much truth in them! When you ask a question like “Where are the Ghanaian Directors?…” give both sides of the story to allow your readers to make their own educated deductions. Telling one side just makes the story a propaganda/opinion piece with the purpose of trying to get the reader to side with you.

          Reply
          • @c.a. owusu,

            Thankyou so much for this response. @ GC…. WHAT negativity? I am laughing. I only see people expressing their honest opinions. And as usual it too much for some Ghanaians. 

  7. Hey GC Staff, next time you write an article try to get both sides of the story for once instead of talking to a few people on one side and letting your personal opinion fill in for the rest of the story. Have you considered the possibility that Ghanaian directors have been offered these scripts that are going to Nigerians and turned them down? You act like these movies that the Nigerians are making for the Ghanaian producers you spoke to are good and therefore valuable to a director’s career, when in actuality they are really bad and will do nothing for a person’s career other than to get a tiny paycheck. Being a film director is being a visual artist, and thus you need to choose your projects wisely so you build up an impressive resume of quality work that shows consistent growth. These Nigerian directors (and Ghanaian directors like Socrates) you have listed are bottomfeeders, and in 10 years if they are still in the industry they will still be doing the low-quality work. The good directors from both Ghana and Nigeria pick and choose their projects so they are constantly getting better and gaining more recognition around the world. GC Staff thinks they need these scripts, truth is they are better off staying far away from them!

    Reply
  8. ummm good topic and question. i guess it is due to the fact  ghanaians like everything foreign. also we r own west enemy. we always find a way to bring down those who r trying to do something great

    Reply
  9. So you make it your work to come here and rubbish her? Two wrongs don’t make a right… I don’t support any of the bashing and insults meted out to Leila, I think she is great at what she does, point is same ignorant people like you are the ones who create the platform for people to say rubbish about her because you choose to insult others rather than just praising her work. Try praising her anytime you get the chance instead bringing somebody else down. I am sure leila wakes up trying to do better, help her, spur her on. Truth is if you are good nobody, no amount of insults can take that away from you. My problem is all the insults, so people do it so you will do it too. You are no different from the 180 people who came here and insulted her. And please don’t mention God here, he doesn’t and will never support such malice… Do to others what you want others to do to you.

    Reply
  10. mr owusu,thank you for your wise comment.as for chris,the only thing he has managed to do to ghana  with this constant accusation against nigeria is make   ghana cheap and look weak also.for chris ,everything ghana  is not doing well in ,nigeria is the evil  one .is it not good that one takes a good look inward  in himself and find out what is wrong and find a solution for his problems ,instead of constantly accusing some one else.iam not her to fight for nigeria ,but ,one thing iam sure of is that ,chris ,and ghana can do better than this.maybe ,ghana has to learn from nigeria———- they do not sit around to complain about their  problems ,they face it head on like men they are.this is why  they are good in what they can do. this is one aspect of nigeria that i really envy.

    Reply
    • @aida, maybe u shld go to nairaland.com or nigeriafilms.com and see all the blames they put on ghana for almost everything going wrong in their country. from some of their stars dying to our stars acting along side them in their movie,. my sister if u wanna know what nigerian think about ghana, pls vist these sites and look at all the insults they run on us.. i dont think chris is complaining, i only think he is trying to voice out the problem in our industry to some of these producers, and maybe suggest that they use their own instead of depending from somebody from outside. i think this is happening in ghana is because of two main reasons. first, nigeria has a very large population compared to ghana, and most of these producers wanna sell movies beyond the shores of ghana, specifically nigeria because the ghana and nigeria are the main patrons of african movies. before the resurrection of ghana movies, ghanaian were the second patrons of nigerian movies after nigeria. using nigerian directors is the producers way of attracting nigerian audience. because my sister, i hve read a whole lotta comments from nigerian websites. some even calling our movies stupid and some swearing not even buy our movies, and others saying that they will never accept any other movie industry in Africa except theirs. thats much like saying the ghanaian movie undustry does not exist to them because majority of them want Nollywood to be the only movie industry in Africa and will not open room for any competition. my sister, these are not stuff i am making up, but true comments i read from nigerian blog sites. some of these producers are usually under pressure to make money, and ghana’s population of 24 million is not enough to satisfy their goal. i ve always say that one advantage nigerians have over other african countires is their population. i think these nigerian directors in ghana are not doing bad either even though my favorite will have be Pascal Amanfo. i think he is more creative than all the nigerian directors mentioned above. Frank Rajah is ok except for the fact that most movies he direct are usually stolen from india movies which makes me question his creativity a little bit. i love chidi chikere because he tells good stories but in terms of directing, he is blah, flat just like a lotta directors in nigerian movies. i watch nigerian movies just for the story, but truth is most nigerian directors lack creativity, and transition in their movies. Ifeanyi Onyeabor sucks big time. None of the movies he has directed in ghana is good.” who owns the city” and ” things we do for love” which he directed sucks big time. the only movie he directed which i like was Fulani, but that was an exact copy of a ghana movie “wedlock of the gods” produced in 2007 .
      the second reason why these producers go for the nigerian directed is that, the best two popular ghanaian directors in ghana today are Shirley Frimpong and Leila Djansi who happened to be females. most of these producers in ghana are males and as usual with males their ego will not let them use a female directors even though most of these female directors are creative. women are naturally more creative than men artistically. like Vivian Ejike and Emem Isong from nigeria. they are the only directors in nigeria who make me smile anything i watch their movies because they are more creative. i dont know if u are ghanaian, but if you are, then i dont think chris pointing out a problem in ghana makes ghana weak, rather i think it open doors for scutiny of the movie directors who are geered towards making money and would do anything to achieve their goal even at the expense of their own people because my sister trust me there are ghanaian directors who will love to direct these ghanaian movies but are not given a chance by their fellow ghanaian producers, so the best they can do is direct their own movies, typical examples are leila djansi, shirley frimpong manso, and kobi rana. they direct their own movies and they are doing a very good job.

      Reply
  11. So are u saying all local language movies are done by Nigerians? And u forgot Emmanuel Apea who did RUN BabyRUN @Eben

    If its  any consolation perhaps instituting a program req producers to give a certain percentage of their works for Made in Ghana purposes will help curb this lacadascal trend

    Reply
  12. @ nanaama,i respect your point of view but,you are a little centimental about all of these.at the end of the  day is all about  economics..he who complains most does not  win all the time.this issue of nigeria -ghana has to really go away for both lands and other countries of african to move forward.take a look at the rest of the world,even enemies do things together when they believe they will all gain from it.ghana cannot make alone ,but nigeria ,do the reasons you mentioned before can go half way but ,not fullfill its potential s without involving others .so at the end of it all ghana has to realise that  nigeria  in this  area is lilike conjoined twins,getting one out  is like killing the other  or rendering the other useless that it cannot  function fully,so lets get real here,and learn to work together when it is necessary ,and do it  alone  when it is needed. the rest of the world do that ,why cannot african countries too.stop in -fighting,it destroys and not build anything.

    Reply
  13. I have said it severally, i look forward to the day when a nonGhanaian African does a film in Ghana that showcases our culture beautifully and in the same token if given a chance im sure a Ghanaian can do a movie  in a nonGhanaian African nation with excellence…..but nooooo Africans have this obsession with everything staying the same and even lambast those of us who dare to go outside the shores oGhana to make things happen……..how the he.ll do you think Ghana can progress as a film rich nation if we continue to bring down those that think outside the box? Look if Ghana producers dont use Ghana directors or if the directors choose to produce their on works ir is not by force in fact i think they r following their Hollywood heroes who do the same and are reaping benefits ie Spielberg.Eastwood.Gibson to name a few.
    There is a saying that if it aint broke dont fix it n since the best of Gollywood are the ProducerDirector embodied in one person THEN STEP YA GAME UP Ghana producers n learn how to direct same goes for the directors learn screenwritting…Essentially i feel there is no right or wrong i  this case, like some have said earlier its about being ahead of the curve.

    Reply
  14. Nigerians are smart and hardworking. The nigeria directors that direct ghana movies are not even the best. I was in nigeria 2months ago and i watched alot of nigeria movies at the cinemals directed and produced by nigerians of international standards. Those guys are really good.

    Reply

Leave a Reply