Ghanaian filmmaker Ivan Quashiga has called on the government to give a tax rebate to filmmakers on film equipment that are imported into the country.
He told AJ Sarpong on The Chat on Saturday the high cost of film equipment is having a big toll on movie producers in Ghana.
“One problem for filmmakers in this country is the cost of film equipment. We buy the equipment. There is not equipment gear house in Ghana where you can go and loan a camera to film. And the cameras are becoming very expensive. And when you bring them into this country, because of the cost, you are also bound to pay heavy duties on them,” he said.
“I believe that if the government gives us some rebate on the import duties of the equipment we bring in, to reduce the burden on filmmakers,” Ivan further noted.
Talking about the effects of telenovelas on the Ghanaian movie industry, Ivan there must be a strategic attempt to limit the prominence given to them on local television.
He intimated that even though he is not calling for the total ban of foreign telenovelas on our screens, he believes if prime time slots on TV are reserved for only local productions like it is done in Nigeria, the Ghanaian movie industry won’t be drowned by foreign movies.
“I think that we need to follow what other people have done. Like in Nigeria, what they do is that the prime time is given to local content. If that is done there will be work for people in the industry and in a few years we will be doing things that Nollywood is doing now,” he said.
“We have to be a little bit selfish about this issue. We have to know that it is our lives that matter, it is our culture that matters,” he added.
Ivan, the producer of the popular ‘Things Do for Love’ and ‘Yolo’ TV series also urged filmmakers in Ghana to dub their films into other foreign languages for the international market.
This discussion comes on the back of a recent comment made by the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Gbabin that telenovelas are corrupting Ghanaian women, and another comment made by the Chairman of the Appointment Committee of Parliament Joe Wise that he finds telenovelas offensive.
