Hilarious veteran actor Augustine Abbey, otherwise known as the infamous Idikoko, has broken his silence on the comparison of local Ghanaian movies and foreign movies.
The �Koko� man, who is now behind the cameras as producer, has debunked erroneous impression being crated that foreign movies from Nollywood, Hollywood and Bollywood have taken over Ghana�s movie market. According to him, a research done by him and other colleagues has proven that foreign movies come nowhere near the local Twi movies in terms of sales.
In an exclusive interview with New One recently, he explained that 60 percent of Ghana�s population is illiterate, and they are those who patronize the local movies. �What I am trying to say is that people who buy local movies are in the majority in Ghana because the literate have access to DSTV.
They watch foreign movies a lot and they want our movies to look like the Americans,� he said. Currently, he said the Twi movies are booming, with a lot of stakeholders even abusing the system to an extent that over thirty [30] new movies are released daily, to which he said a memorandum of understanding had been signed to regulate and bring some sanity into the industry and also rid the market of uncensored and pirated films.
He revealed that a new arrangement, under the auspices of the Film Producers Association of Ghana [FIPAG] is being put in place to streamline the situation so that on average of three Ghanaian movies and one Nigerian movie will be release every week.
Under the arrangement, a single release will attract a levy of GH�50. A movie with two parts goes for GH�100, with subsequent parts attracting GH�50 for each. Non-members of FIPAG will however pay an amount of GH�250 for a single movie, against GH�500 for non-Ghanaian producer and that applies to subsequent parts.
Producers from different countries will not be allowed to premiere their movies in Ghana without permission from FIPAG and the producers association of the country the visiting producer is from.
<<Print>>