“Twi telenovelas” collapsed Kumawood movie industry – Ivan Quashigah
Ghanaian filmmaker, Ivan Quashigah, has indicated that the nose-dive trend of the Kumawood movie industry is attributable to the influx of foreign soap operas translated into Twi which has dominated Ghana’s television screens.
Mr. Quashigah is of the view that the unimpeded flow of foreign soap operas has caused the once vibrant movie industry, which is mainly based in Kumasi, popularly called Kumawood, to experience very low patronage. He opined that the Indian and Mexican telenovelas, localised as “Twinovelas” have negatively impacted the local movie industry especially Kumawood.
He feared that with the current trend of the high demand for foreign operas as a result of the insatiable taste developed by a section of Ghanaians, the Kumawood industry stand at a very high chance of going into extinction. According to the CEO of Farmhouse Production, if the situation is not dealt with now to halt the trend, unemployment in the movie industry and Ghana, in general, will explode.
“We saw the demise of Kumawood, it’s because of the translation of Indian and Mexican soaps into Twi”, Mr. Quashigah averred.
Speaking at Media General’s monthly mentorship programme dubbed “Time with the Captains”, Mr. Quashigah suggested that it is about time Ghanaians implement clear cut policy measures to salvage the situation. He specifically, indicated that one of the means of saving our local movie industry is adopting the method used by the Nigerian to promote their local movie industry.
Citing the growth of the Nigerian movie industry, the Farmhouse Productions CEO noted that, Ghana can emulate the Nigerian strategy of dedicating 70% of airtime to promote their movie industry.
Also, he called for a collaboration between the industry players and the government to find a workable policy that will drive the movie industry in Ghana.
Mr. Ivan Quashigah is a veteran filmmaker, and the brain behind popular TV series in Ghana such as Things We for Love and YOLO.