Cecilia Anno Barnieh, Actress
Ghanaian actress, Cecilia Anno Barnieh, has disclosed that one of the biggest challenges Ghana is facing in the movie industry is a lack of professionalism.
Being in the industry for a while, she thinks professionalism is a big challenge in the industry but can be changed if worked on.
Explaining what she calls professionalism she said, “Professionalism in the sense that, I just think that producers have to be more professional in the movie-making. Like when you have call times you should actually go by it.”
According to her, a lot of movie producers are unprofessional and do not pay attention to certain essentials they need to help the industry improve.
She told Foster Romanus on e.TV Ghana’s Late Nite Celebrity Show, “It’s more like respecting people’s time. If you call for a shoot at a particular time and you get there and you’re told you’re not shooting till like 6 it’s not fair. And most of the time, you can’t complain because when you do, you’re seen as a show-off and we have to change.”
She stated that, producers especially have to be professional enough so even if you are not ready, a phone call or text to the actor or actress is a sign of professionalism.
“The movie industry is a profitable business and it is working in countries like Nigeria, South Africa and Kenya. They are showing us that the industry is very profitable so there’s no reason why it cannot work in Ghana,” she said.
She believes we have the talents here and unlike before when we had none, we now have amazing writers and people good with the cameras and, “although the real good cameras are not here yet, we can get it although they are expensive the output in terms of quality and the technology needs to be solved.”
Moving on, Cecilia emphasized that another challenge we are facing in the industry is the fact that, although we have the talents here, getting them those opportunities and the time and support they need is also another challenge.
Citing an example she said, “I once met someone whom I told I was an actress and she was like, she doesn’t watch Ghanaian movies which was a bit disappointing to meet a Ghanaian who is not interested in watching Ghanaian content. I know and have met some Ghanaians in the diaspora who watch more Ghanaian movies than people in Ghana which is not fair.”
Although she thinks this particular challenge started at a stage where there were not a lot of good content on our screens she, however, believes that times have changed and, “we now have a lot of seasoned actors so with more of such projects coming through, the audience needs to be a bit more accepting than they were before.”