Ghana Actors Guild schooled on Film Bill

A four-day workshop aimed at training members of the Ghana Actors Guild (GAG) to effectively engage parliamentarians to push for the passage of the Film Development and Classification Bill, is underway in Accra.

The workshop, which is sponsored by the Business Sector Advocacy Challenge (BUSAC) Fund, is also with the support of Smile Ghana.

Speaking on the importance of the Bill to the Ghanaian film industry, Samuel Nii Odoi-Mensah, President of GAG told the Ghana News Agency on Tuesday that the passage of the bill into law would ensure that pornographic, violent and culturally unacceptable films were effectively censured and quarantined in the country.

He raised concern over controversial titles of films and themes which created confusion and inflamed religious and political passion among the citizenry, stressing that they stalled national cohesion, co-existence, the peaceful and democratic process.

Nii Odoi-Mensah said there was the need for the members of the Film Development and Classification Board to be re-oriented to check the influx of morally-degrading foreign films in the country.

Madam Laurencia Tettey, Deputy Fund Manager of BUSAC extolled the socio-economic importance of the film industry stressing that it created employment and wealth for the professionals.

She said her outfit was proud to give the GAG the support to enable them build their capacity to lobby for the passage of the Bill into law.

Mr Joseph Atayem Awantungo, one of the facilitators of the workshop, who is also the Managing Consultant of the Pinnacle Investment Group Limited, a private training and accounting firm, expressed the hope that the members of the Guild would acquire the needed skills to successfully “see them through their engagement with parliamentarians.”

Source: GNA