The extent of mundane characterized by our movie industry has sprouted a buffoon nomenclature called ” Kumawood”. It is prefixed from Hollywood, an area of Los Angeles, known as the centre of American motion picture industry.
However, the Hindi film industry located in Mumbai, India has the name Bollywood. From this analysis, it is clear that Nigerians also coined their ” Nollywood” from Hollywood and Ghanaians made an attempt to call theirs ” Ghallywood” which has been over shadowed by “Kumawood”.
This transition matrix is ridiculous and faux! In one breath, they should be lauded for embracing local dialects but the black spot is the witty-grown exaggerated comedy and insult directed by some neophytes.
Having given it a deep deliberation as a media practitioner veering into showbiz, I have always been mindful with an artistic piece that will unite the country than a project whose modules and ideologies seeks to foster segregation.
The seeming growing of disunity between the users of English language pitched with the local dialects is what we have to wipe off by embracing all dialects and name it Ghanaian movie as we used to have it in the olden days.
The psychology of Kumasi actors and actresses versus those of Accra should simply be condemned. Rather, the combination of all should form Ghana movie but nothing less than that!
Humorously, if care is not taken, other funny names will soon be immerging by prefixing the name of one’s town or hamlet with wood. Examples will include: Odododiodiowood, Akosombowood, Bimbilawood, etc.
Crossing from Accra to shoot movie in Kumasi does not warrant such an artiste to be tagged as ” Kumawood” actor or actress as some people have started fingering some Accra based actors and actresses shooting movies with “Kumawood” stars in Kumasi.
The mischief surrounding this should be discarded hence it is a healthy exercise to build a unified movie empire. The hour is now for a complete overhauling and retooling to rebrand movies made in Ghana to enhance tourism and creative industry.
Politicians and policy makers should include in their manifestoes stipulated measures to fix the dwindling shape of the creative industry.
Nana Agyei Boateng
