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I Support Vollywood & Tallywood & If You Don’t, Then You Are the One Championing Tribalism

Kumawood

 

Hello Chris-Vincent,

I was excited to read on your blog yesterday that the people of the Volta Region and its environs as well as Tamale and the surrounding places have all decided to get into film making, calling their respective industries-Vollywood and Tallywood.

Surprisingly, the article which unveiled the above development ended with a question on whether these progressive enterprises are of tribal nature—forgetting that, these film makers and stars of Volta and Northern backgrounds have no place in Kumawood except the dying Ghollywood.

Have any of you seen Akorfa Ejeani Asiedu, Vicky Zugah and the other actors from the Volta ever being used in a Kumawood movies before? Kumawood exists and operate on tribal lines, where the movie stars are only of Ashanti or better still Akan heritage.

What do you want the other actors and film makers from the other places of Ghana to do? Sit down and become jobless?

We all know the future of the English speaking Ghanaian Movie Industry is pretty hazy and to think of the fact that some of these Voltarians and Northern background actors and film-makers can’t speak good Twi, how are they supposed to get a job and make a living in Kumawood?

READ ALSO: Aside Kumawood, There is Vollywood and Tallywood – Is Ghana’s Movie Industry Turning into Tribal Play?

Is it not wise for them to also start something in their own native language—if not for anything at all, to sustain their families and career?

Instead of people supporting these initiatives, they are rather calling it tribalism, forgetting that Kumawood is the biggest tribal industry out there. If you are making movies in your local language and using actors mainly of a particular tribe, what does that make you?

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Aside Kumawood, There is Vollywood and Tallywood – Is Ghana’s Movie Industry Turning into Tribal Play?

Akorfa2

 

GhanaCelebrities.Com’s investigation has uncovered two other movie industry names in Ghana known as Vollywood and Tallywood.

Vollywood is the name of the movie industry for filmmakers in the Volta region of Ghana or the name of films produced largely in the Eve language or people of Ewe descent. Just as Kumawood or sometimes called Twi speaking movies are produced in Kumasi and its neighbouring villages, Vollywood movies are produced in the Volta region of Ghana, precisely, Adaklu.

Unlike Kumawood movies which are mostly comedy, Vollywood movies narrates true but untold stories of the people of Ewe lineage and general storylines about life. Vollywood movies contain 100% dialogue in Eve with subtitles.

They are largely marketed in areas such as Hohoe, Ho, Aflao, Adaklu, Togo, Peki, Kumasi, Accra and some part of the North.

Putting our ears on the ground and speaking to few VCD (movies) sellers, GhanaCelebrities.Com’s gathered that the Vollywood movies are not that popular because the filmmakers don’t publicize or advertise much. However, those who know Vollywood movies love them and patronize them a lot!

Already, names such as Harriet Odonu, Sheila Nyavor and others are few names of characters we discovered in Vollywood as the emerging stars of the industry.

Our investigation also revealed that whilst some filmmakers in Vollywood intend to make their own stars just as Kumawood has done with names such as: Agya Koo, Kwaku Manu, Mercy Asiedu, Kyeiwaa, and others, some filmmakers in Vollywood rather use already made film stars who are Ewes or of Voltarian descent.

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