5 institutions announce environmental film competition and festival
Five institutions in Ghana have teamed up to organize a competition to encourage the production of short films and documentaries to raise issues about the environment in Ghana.
The competition carries prize tags of GH¢3,000 for the first, GH¢1,500 for the second, GH¢750 for the third and consolation prizes.
Dr Kwesi Owusu, Co-director of Our Film Festival in Accra, announced the competition at a press briefing in Accra on Wednesday.
The National Film and Television Institute (NAFTI), the Environmental Film Festival of Accra, the French Embassy in Ghana, the British Council in Accra and Creative Storm, a media agency, are coming together to organize the competition.
All winning entries would be premiered at the seventh edition of the Environmental Film Festival in Accra next June.
Dr Owusu said that the competition was open to both amateur and professional film makers.
Entries should be short films or documentaries that must have been produced within the last two years in normal conventional, DVD or CVD format.
According to Dr Owusu, to enter the competition, the competitor must send name, email and telephone numbers to [email protected] after which the competitor would be contacted and registered for free.
The deadline for the registration is April 29, 2011, and all films must be submitted by May 30, 2011.
Dr Owusu said the recent outbreak of cholera across the country demonstrated the urgency to bring environmental issues into sharp focus.
“Over 70 per cent of the diseases reported to health centres are also the result of poor sanitation and hygiene. The social responsibility for such an initiative (the competition) cannot be stronger,” Dr Owusu said.
Professor Abraham Linus, Rector of NAFTI, said with the threat of global warming, the competition and the festival were significant avenues of education and discussion to redress the issues on the environment.
Ms Valerie Lesbros, Cultural Attaché at the French Embassy in Ghana, which is sponsoring the first prize, stressed the need for movies that reflected Ghanaian realities.
Source: GNA