Boris Kudjoe, the Austrian born, German and Ghanaian descend, Hollywood Actor, called on the National President of Film Directors Guild of Ghana, Richard Yaw Boateng, on Monday 21st May 2018, at the Kempiski Hotel in Accra. At the meeting were Joycelyn Dumas, a renowned Ghanaian film actress and producer, and Mr. William Manful, the Government Relations Officer of the office of the President of Ghana.
At the meeting, the Ghanaian descend Hollywood stars actor, Boris Cecil Tay-Natey Kudjoe, expressed his interest in bringing top notch Hollywood producers to film their movies in Ghana. He stated that he has a lot of followers from L.A. California who are very ready to come to Ghana and shoot their films in Ghana. But for them to come, it will be determined by the kind of incentives that the government of Ghana is ready to put in place to attract them. He also mentioned that the government of Ghana will have to see the relationship between the development of the Ghana Film Industry and tourism. That it is the Film Industry that basically promotes the tourism industry; that it is the Film Industry that attracts foreigners to the country who come as tourist.
In his presentation, Boris Kudjoe cited that in the United States of America, the Film Industry produces the highest GDP as compared to the Tourism Industry; that the Film Industry makes direct investment in the economy than any other economic sector in the world. He said, “With film, we invest direct to the economy and never take back the money we invest. We hire people and pay them cash. We rent accommodation and hire equipment and pay cash into the country’s economy. There is no way to get that money back; the money goes into the system. So the only way to get that money back is for the local government to pass a law of a certain percentage of tax revert for the Film Producers and the Investors.” In saying that, he requested that the government of Ghana gives a 30% tax revert for the Hollywood film producers to attract them to come and shoot their films in Ghana.
The National President of Film Directors Guild of Ghana, Mr. Richard Yaw Boateng, responded that he and his executives in the Film Directors Guild of Ghana have been working on the same initiative since 2015. But then government of Ghana at the time didn’t see the importance of that. Mr. Boateng revealed that he led a delegation to call on the current President last year 17th October, 2017, to discuss the state of the Ghana Film Industry with the President Akufo-Addo at the Jubilee House. “The President was overwhelmed to hear the situation at hand and the state of the Ghana Film Industry. The President expressed his interest in the development of the Ghana Film Industry and charged me to work with the Minister for Tourism, Arts and Culture told make sure something good is done about it. Since we don’t have any direct link to Hollywood and rather to Bollywood, we have channelled our attention to India. So we went to India in 2015 to negotiate and sign an MOU with the authorities of the Film Producers but our government then did nothing to support the initiative, so we couldn’t progress with it,” said Mr. Boateng.
Mr. Boateng revealed that by the directive of the President of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, he will be leading a delegation to India to renegotiate the MOU signed in India in 2015. He revealed that the delegation led by him will be leaving for India on the 3rd of June. That the trip will be sponsored by the government of Ghana. That the Ghana High Commissioner in New Delhi, India, H.E Mike Oquaye Jnr is facilitating the meetings with the Bollywood authorities. And that the Minister for Tourism, Arts and Culture would be funding the trip.
Mr. Boateng wholeheartedly welcomed Mr. Boris Kudjoe for the top Hollywood producers to film in Ghana initiative. As one of the leaders in the film industry in Ghana, Mr. Boateng assured Mr. Kudjoe that the Ghana Film Industry is very ready to work with him 100% since it will serve the same purpose of developing the Ghana Film Industry.
Ms. Joycelyn Dumas, who was also at the meeting cited that the government of the day has the biggest role to play. She said if government prioritise the Ghana Film Industry and pay productive attention to it, we will not meet again to discuss the same thing but our nest meeting will be for how to distribute our movies to the global market, i.e. the international Box Office. Joycelyn stated that government policies to develop and protect the investment of the Ghanaian film producers will go a long way to the benefit of the country’s economy.
Mr. William Manful, the Government Relations Officer of the Office of the President, remarked that the President Akufo-Addo and his government are entertainment friendly, since the initial interest of President Akufo-Addo was to be a filmmaker. The President is very much interested in the film industry and will support any initiative that will have a direct positive impact on the economy of the country. Mr. Manful indicated that the President Akufo-Addo is on board for the development of the Ghana Film Industry. “So let’s engage all the stakeholders, we will get there,” said Mr. Manful.
Mr. Boateng expressed his appreciation to Mr. Boris Kudjoe for taking the stress to come down here only to help develop the film industry. “As you are going to meet with President Akufo-Addo, please kindly stress on the policies, especially the tax revert for both local and foreign film producers and investors,” said Mr. Boateng.
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