Actress Mercy Asiedu says the stakeholders in the industry could not adjust to the technological advancement in movie production.
That, she said, affected the country’s industry to compete evenly with their Nigerian counterparts in terms of movie creation, distribution, and marketing.
Speaking in an interview with Max Morning Show in Accra on Wednesday, the actress, who doubles as a musician, denied the allegations that the country’s movie industry has collapsed.
“The industry has not collapsed; movie production has not seen a downturn because the actors and actresses who are going to act are still here and are not dead. The producers who are doing the job are still here. None of us has gone anywhere; we are still here, so if you tell me that movie production has seen a downturn, I will say it is not true. But what has rather changed the work is technology advancement,” she stated.
Mercy Asiedu said the invasion of technology overturned the selling of compact discs (CDs), stressing that the industry couldn’t rebrand to integrate into the technological system.
She also noted that the influx of foreign contents on the country’s media had also crippled the chances of the local movie contents being shown during primetime.
“No investor will invest in contents that are shown at late nights while the foreign movies are being shown at prime time,” Mercy Asiedu said.
Touching on why the Nigerian industry was far ahead of the country’s movie industry, she stated that the Nigerians were also enjoying the 70/30 bill, which was passed by their government to ensure that 70 percent of their local movies were shown against 30 percent foreign airplay, which Ghana had not gained that privilege to enjoy.
Marcy Asiedu bemoaned that the successive government had failed to enforce the Film Act with a legislative instrument to promote the creation of a conductive environment for the local movies to enjoy 70 percent airplay on the national television stations.
Source: Ghana/MaxTV/MaxFM/max.com.gh/Joyceline Natally Cudjoe
