Actor cum politician John Dumelo says he was called by a God, probably to be a parliamentarian but Socrate Safo simply does not share in that. He has been breathing down his neck ever since he annouced his candidacy to Ghanaians. READ ALSO: Opambour Is The Reason Why I Stopped Going To Church— Nana Tornado … Read more
Veteran actor Prince Yawson known popularly as Waakye has shown his loyalty by hitting the streets to campaign vigorously for the NPP. In pictures sighted, he is seen with Socrate Safo in their 4more4Nana t-shirts paying their dues. READ ALSO: Apparently, Lordina Is Chilling In France After She Left Mahama— Audio PHOTOS; READ ALSO: I … Read more
Ghanaian filmmaker Socrate Sarfo has expressed his disappointment in rap legend Obrafour for saying Ghana has no music industry. Obrafour in a recent interview with Graphic Showbiz stated that there is no music industry in Ghana as the so called industry does not have marketing structure or revenue collection structure. READ ALSO: GC EXCLUSIVE: Obrafour’s … Read more
Controversial movie director, Socrate Sarfo has waded into the seemingly endless debate emanating from the just ended Vodafone Ghana Music Awards 2018.
The awardsevent which was held at the Accra International Conference Centre on Saturday has been characterized by a barrage of debatable issues on the various award categories and recipients that went up for grabs.
Since Mzbel became a mother, she has been ambushed several times to name the father of her baby boy, Aaron—and she has always ran away from this, sort of telling people there’s a problem with who the father is… In a recent encounter with Socrate Sarfo on Peace Fm, the film-maker did what many people have been doing—pushed the now struggling musician to name the father of her child. And when she refused, Socrate suggested that, the father of Mzbel’s child must be ashamed of Mzbel and the baby, the only plausible reason why he takes pride in hiding…
I’m not quite sure how wise a publicity stunt involving accusations of murder and attempted murder is, but maybe I’m just not as wise as Sarfo- or Bulldog-Shatta for that matter.
Ever controversial producer Socrate Sarfo thinks the entire split of Shatta Wale and Bulldog, plus the subsequent trading of public invectives- is nothing but a gimmick.
Now, the controversial movie maker has descended on Sarkodie, saying, the talented Ghanaian musician needs to start looking in the mirror or else his career will end as that of Samini is dead.
He used Samini to illustrate the point that, there was a time Samini was the hottest artiste in Ghana—and no one could at the time have a hit without featuring him on that song.
Over the weekend, Ghana’s very own musicians-Bollie and Reggie Zippy, now called “Menn On Point” made Ghanaians proud with an exciting performance at UK’s X-Factor audition—which became the talk of social media. In fact, several UK media outlets lauded the performance of these two Ghanaians who said they are pushing for “World Domination.” Following the … Read more
To understand the feud between movie-producer/director-Socrate Sarfo and Hiplife artiste-Tinny, let’s give you the background.
It all started a few months ago in the studios of Peace Fm where Tinny was a guest artiste on the station’s Entertainment Review to promote his then new release ‘Badder Than Them.’ During an interview with the artiste, Socrate Sarfo who was a panel member threw out comments the musician disdained.
The near fight situation was controlled but before that, Tinny also threw several punches the way of Socrate Sarfo—calling him a failed movie maker, just as Socrate Sarfo trashed his song.
A few days later, Tinny released another single solely dedicated to the film-maker, calling him all manner of names.
Just as I stated in my article yesterday, the political lines do not disappear in Ghana even when there is a national crisis which ought to be dealt with as a national issue.
Following the attacks and counter attacks that the Yvonne Nelson-led #DumsorMustStop campaign has received, with President Mahama even tweeting in relation to the campaign being championed by folks from the Creative Arts Industry, a group calling itself Creative Arts for Change with film-maker-Socrate Sarfo and others being in charge have issued a statement.
It’s pretty a long one but interesting, so read the statement below…
We of CREATIVE ARTS FOR CHANGE wish, as an organization brought together by our trade and industry – the creative arts industry – to add our voice to those of the millions of Ghanaian businesses, entrepreneurs, students, teachers, doctors, nurses, patients, parents, media houses and the general citizenry about this near devastating energy situation – “dumsor”.
We want to publicly notice and endorse the effort of our colleagues who recently have been outspoken about this situation. We refer specifically to Yvonne Nelson, Lydia Forson, Sarkodie, D.K.B. and the many others who have joined in this battle. Congratulations to all of you for fighting for us all in the industry and for Ghanaians. We doff our hats to you.
We also take note of the attacks our colleagues have had to face from some political quarters, particularly government circles. We are very disappointed that those politicians have taken this route of our politics to personalize and partisanize the situation.
Particularly, we also take note that the President has taken a position that the actions of our colleagues – and by extension, of ours by our previous actions and as we issue this statement – are politicized; something he believes we should not be a part of because of our industry. While we do not begrudge him his position on the matter, we humbly remind him that it is our right to determine our future, which is a political decision.
No Ghanaian filmmaker has ever court controversy like Socrate Sarfo – as far as on-set and titling of movies are concerned. He fought with his cast whom he hired to shoot bloody occult scenes but midway, some of the characters decided not to sleep in a coffin to shoot the scene.
It also came out that he decided to shave a female actress – for a role she was supposed to play. Another time, he asked a male cast to mast**bate so they get real semen for a scene but the character failed to do so – because he felt any viscous substance like semen should be used instead of his semen.
Socrate also gave us controversial titles such as: God is Wicked, HOT FORK, What S*x Can Do, Adults Only, amongst others. Some few days ago, we woke up to a leaked videos of a female student in UCC. Later, the lady came public to say she leaked the videos and that she is mentally sound and feels no pity for doing so – and even disclosed some top politicians who have walked through her project.
Despite the many times Shirley Frimpong Manso has shown that she is best Ghanaian Film Director by sweeping several of the top African movie awards in recent years, the debate who is the best Ghanaian film director keeps coming up—so we decided to settle this…
After over 3,000 votes so far, Shirley Frimpong Manso has 49.66% (making up 1,519 votes), followed by Frank Rajah with 41.81% (1,279 votes) and Leila Djansi has received 6.51% (199 votes).
Socrate Sarfo has so far received only 14 votes and Pascal Amanfo has 48 votes to his name…
The outcome of the poll is not that surprising considering the fact that, Shirley Frimpong Manso has become a strong film-making household name in Ghana…
I will start this article by quoting myself ‘It is difficult to be a real critic but more difficult to be really criticized…’
Interestingly, Entertainment in Ghana has gained remarkable grounds with many radio stations holding several discourses each week aimed at strengthening the fast developing industry.
Though prominence is mostly given to Music and Movies, occasionally, several sectors of the Art industry is considered—-and those who sit on the ‘talking benches’ seem not to be accountable to anyone.
Today, I’ve decided to hold some of them accountable, the same way they hold others accountable with their sharp and sometimes, rough teeth.
I will look at the popular Entertainment Radio Shows in a sequence, starting with Peace Fm’s Entertainment Review hosted by Kwasi Aboagye…
Now the Host-Kwasi Aboagye
With many years of radio experience, you cannot really find fault with the presenting structures he throws unto the table each week. When he has a to host interview segments, he pushes the boundaries to ask the hard question, which has in the past abruptly ended some of his interviews—-simply because, it gets tough for the persons at the other side.
On Entertainment Review, Kwasi Aboagye’s primary responsibility centres around being able to hold his panel within reasonable moderation, thereby ensuring they do not stray off the pathway and probably not throw punches at each other—when dissenting.
With a robust approach and strange sense of firmness, Kwasi is able to bring on path when there is an attempted escape. Occasionally, he is forced by his own underlying principles to join the discussions in length, especially when he feels his panel members are losing focus on the substantive issue.
Leila Djansi who was once an apprentice on Socrate Sarfo’s movie set (the latter has once said) seems to have unending things to say about the ‘Hot Fork’ film-maker…
It seems an existing resentment between the two film-makers will live on forever—-since Leila always has something to say about Socrate, the moment the latter’s name pop up.
In a recent interview with NewsOne, Leila Djansi had the below to say when she was asked; Is Socrates Sarfo your friend?
I have never been at odds with Socrates. He told me not to come back to Ghana because the industry was choked. I did. He told me not to work with Akorfa, I did. Then he made a film I thought was exploitative, I told him about it and he got upset. When I see him, I go up to him, he ignores me. He goes about trying to sabotage me working in Ghana but I really don’t care. I buy all his films. Good or bad to support him and I’ll continue to do that as a sign of gratitude.
About the assumption that she is controversial, she said;
In the said story, Yvonne Nelson accused the Ghana Actors Guild GAG for doing nothing when she was banned by the Film Producers Association of Ghana, FIPAG in 2010. Quoting: ““When my issue (ban) came up, the Actors Guild did nothing for me. They only came, sat, had some meetings and that was all. They did nothing for me. I kept quite but have to come out finally” Yvonne revealed on ‘Hang Out with KOD’ hosted by KOD on Gh One.
The story was reviewed on Neat fm today, Tuesday 18th Feb, 2013. When Kwasi Aboagye, host of the programme called the Ghana Actors Guild, Mr. Nii Odoi Mensah, he confirmed his side of the story as reported by GhanaCelebrities.Com earlier.
Mr. Odoi revealed further on Neat fm “as at the time her issue came up, she was not attending the guild’s meetings and even after the issue died, she still hasn’t attended any of our meetings! Yet, we intervened and had several meetings on her behalf! Today she is accusing us for not doing anything! That is how ungrateful human beings are.”
Socrate Sarfo, who was the Public Relations Officer of FIPAG in 2010 when Yvonne Nelson was banned, was also called for his reactions on the story. “Yvonne is right! She is right because she never attended the series of meetings the Ghana Actors Guild had with FIPAG!”
According to an article film-maker Leila Djansi published, she spent almost half a million dollars on her movie-Sinking Sands in Ghana alone and in fact, she lost money on that production…
In the said blog post, she wrote;
“I spent, excluding marketing and finishing, almost 500,000 dollars in Ghana alone. I laid out a good amount of money for the marketing of the film. Some was spent on the marketing, Senanu Gbedawo enjoyed the rest. The theater was empty. I lost money. if I hadn’t found a buyer here in the States, I don’t know what I’d have done.”
In the same post, Leila Djansi who Socrate Sarfo has once said she was his student (apprentice) on film set threw some daggers and some landed on Socrate Sarfo’s doorsteps.
Based on which Director’s movie is trending, the person mostly wins the known movie awards and if you are a sceptic like me, you will definitely not even believe the genuineness of many of these awards that get handed out…
Last year’s Ghana Movie Awards also failed to give us any strong indication as to who is leading the game—awarding two of the Directors below with their Best Director award.
Let’s forget the technical language if we do not understand them and invoke our individual honesty by voting for who we think is the Best Ghanaian Movie Director—-based on the many Ghanaian movies we’ve seen.
*By Ghanaian Movie Director, the person must have been working in the Ghanaian Movie industry, no necessary a Ghanaian by citizenship*
Vote Below Now and let’s settle the debate once and for all…
I am not a TV addict and I stand to be correct on this….Has anyone seen any of these Mexican soap operas with poor translations being shown on any UK TV channel? Even if they are shown out here (which I doubt anyone will do), no single soul will be glued to his or her … Read more
At an event held in Accra to unveil the trophy to be used for the maiden edition of the Africa Magic Viewers Choice Awards were Award Winning Ghanaian Director-Shirley Frimpong Manso, Actresses Jackie Appiah & Joselyn Dumas, Producer-Ken Attoh and Actor Majid Michel & wife… This was after the announcement of nominees on Monday by … Read more
The president has created a new ministry or minister-designate as he promised for the creative industry. Therefore, the creative industry is no longer under the umbrella of Chieftaincy and Culture. There is now a minister-designated to oversee or handle (you choose) the Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts Ministry, Rashid Pelpuo. Socrate Sarfo has expressed his … Read more
Gone are the days when watching Ghanaian movies was a family thing. Nowadays you will be lucky to find a Ghanaian movie to watch with your little ones without being worried about the content or the words being used in the movie. Growing up, the only thing you had to worry about was the … Read more
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.
Controversial movie maker, Socrate Safo and former President Jerry John Rawlings are incomparable. However, the two can be said to have something in common as their utterances and activities one way or the other get the tabloids busy.
The former is to the entertainment industry what the latter is to politics. Whatever comments the former President makes becomes news. The same way movies produced by Socrate Safo gets everyone talking.
The CEO of Movie Africa Productions, Socrate over the years has earned himself as the most contentious movie maker not only in Ghana but Africa as a whole.
Socrate was on Tuesday arrested and detained for several hours at the Community 18 Police Station for a missing ‘sperm’ on his set.
According to a survey conducted few days ago, a great number of Ghanaians seem to be tired of hearing about certain celebrities’ everyday.
Certain celebs make headlines daily and many trending topics in the media revolve around them. Due to their constant appearances on the media front, some group termed them ‘attention seeking’ celebrities.
Unfortunately, many public figures irrespective of their hard work still go unnoticed, while others hit the front pages, homepages and screens of newspapers, blogs, magazines and TVs day in and out.
The public seems to be growing tired of such ‘attention seeking’ celebrities. When asked which celebrity people are most tired of hearing about : These were the results provided…
If what is being reported below is true, then there will be no more unncessary banning of Ghanaian Actors right? Despite being a pain in the ass, I honestly think Socrate Sarfo has been handling his PRO work very well. FIPAG became prominent as a result of the constant attempt of Socrate to defend and … Read more
Who even cares any more after weeks of ban lifted and ban not lifted stories? Anyway, if you care to know, the PRO of FIPGA, Mr. Socrate Sarfo who came out some few days ago to say FIPAG has not officially lifted Yvonne Nelson’s ban has now confirmed the official lifting of the ban… … Read more