President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo yesterday launched the Presidential Film Pitch Series, a US$25 million initiative aimed at providing support for entrepreneurs in the country’s movie industry.
Under the project, 25 feature films, short films, series, and documentaries by local filmmakers have been selected for investments.
The filmmakers will have the opportunity to engage investors, distributors and marketers to make deals to bring their film projects to fruition.
Speaking at the launch of the initiative, President Akufo-Addo said the Presidential Pitch Series was expected to create about 6000 jobs in the movie industry.
The project, he added, would also help ensure that local film producers get the opportunity to access markets for their films in order to help develop the movie ecosystem.
The selected films under the series would meet stringent criteria including innovation, feasibility, impactfulness, and scalability, the President said.
President Akufo-Addo was confident that the project, when successful, would enable the country’s movie industry become a significant contributor to the development of the nation.
“The consistent favourable rankings of Ghana by the World Economic Forum Global Competitive Report as politically stable, with a safe and secure environment, unique and better tourist assets and infrastructure, should make the country a preferable film and tourism hub, which should be leveraged by Ghanaian film producers.”
“We are, indeed, the safest country in West Africa, and the third most peaceful country on the continent. This enviable position has great marketing and promotional ramifications for the development and sustainability of the Ghanaian film industry,” he said.
President Akufo-Addo urged filmmakers to seize the opportunity to show more creativity and innovation in their productions to make Ghanaian films popular in the country and satisfy international audiences
He expressed the government’s commitment to initiate policies and programmes to help make the Ghanaian film sector competitive and viable.
The Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Ibrahim Awal Mohammed, pledged to develop the creative arts sector to attract the right investments and partnerships.
He said policies would be implemented to develop the music, arts and movie industries to make it competitive on the international stage and create employment.
The Minister pledged to support the movie industry to produce 200 movies annually and create over 40,000 jobs in the industry.
He announced plans by the ministry to develop a multipurpose studio for movies and music as part of plans to help develop the creative arts industry.
According to Mr Awal Mohammed, the creative arts industry would be given the necessary support to enable it generate US$5 billion in the next year.
BY YAW KYEI