Veteran Ghanaian filmmaker, Socrate Safo, has said the country’s movie industry is collapsing because of deep-seated ignorance and a long-standing feud between older and younger generations of filmmakers.
In an interview on Hitz FM, the former Director for Creative Arts at the National Commission on Culture compared filmmaking to driving, a craft that demands not only the tools but also an understanding of the rules.
According to Safo, too many newcomers rush into the industry without mastering the basics.
“People want to become filmmakers, but they do not know anything about filmmaking. They just want to get a camera and organise a few friends, and that is all,” he said.
Reflecting on his early years, Safo recalled entering the industry at a time when video technology was emerging, only to be dismissed by senior colleagues who worked exclusively with celluloid.
“The system today inherited the ignorance of yesterday. When I got into the system, I did not get a warm reception from those who were there before. They were using celluloid cameras.
“So when they saw me using a video camera, they saw me as a joke. I couldn’t even get the opportunity to show my films in the cinemas because the older people were trying to protect their interests,” he recounted.
The lack of acceptance, he said, sparked open conflict.
“We, the new filmmakers, also revolted. Instead of giving them the necessary respect, we were fighting them. And instead of them giving us the necessary guidance, they were restricting us,” he admitted.
Now, he believes history is repeating itself.
“The same thing today; the young ones have also inherited the ignorance that made us… In a way, we rebelled against them, and they are rebelling against us. There’s no synergy,” he said.
Safo asserted that this cycle of mistrust has only accelerated the industry’s decline. “Now we are all being stupid.”