NO FINAL DECISION HAS BEEN TAKEN OVER THE LOCATION FOR THE FILM VILLAGE – CREATIVE ARTS MINISTER.

By;brightwebtv/nana asare barimah

The minister for Creative Arts Industry Mrs. Barbara Oteng Gyasi has made it point blank to the industry players that, the Ministry has so far not decided on where the Film village is going to be built.

In government’s quest to help the creative art industry to grow, the ruling New Patriotic Party after assuming power decided to build film village for the industry in the Ashanti Region to help ease the problems they go through when looking for  locations for their movies.

The ministry has so far sited three equally good locations for the project to be built, Kunsu, Sekyere and Hemang all in the Ashanti Region.

The site to be selected has created divisions among the industry players on which community should be sited for the project.

Some industry players were arguing that, since the chief of Kunsu and a member of film Producers’ Association of Ghana (FIPAG), Nana Agyemang Duah, has already started a film village in his community, they should build the village there, whiles others were also with the view that, Kunsu project is a private business so since Sekyere also has equally good natural resources which will be good for film site, Sekyere should be the right location for the project.

Addressing the leadership of the industry players at Royal Lamerta Hotel in the Ashanti Regional capital Kumasi, on Thursday, 17 September 2020, she made it clear to them that, though they have sent delegates to these three locations to see if it will be appropriate for such projects, they have presented their reports to her, but as we speak , we have not settled on  where the project will be situated.

He therefore urged them to exercise patience because they have decided that, since Kumasi is the hub of movie artists in the country, there is no way the project shall be moved from here (Kumasi) to a different region, so which ever place the Ministry decides  to build the facility, they should all agree because being Kunsu, Hemang or Sekyere, it is still in the Ashanti region.

“We are all aware that, this film village is a huge project which requires a lot of investments, and it’s even going to take time for the construction to be completed, so for me as a sector Minister, which I know this project is going to help the industry, I therefore argue that, since they have started something at Kunsu, is there a way we can support Kunsu  project, to even expand it little more which will be a venue for the industry in the interim whiles we focus on the actual film village project”. She suggested.

She also hinted that, the ministry has established a new project called Ghana Tourism Development Project, which has a grant component to support the industry players whose works are helping tourism industry to grow, so Nana Kunsu Hene Nana Agyemang Duah can equally apply for this grant which he can use to continue his project whiles we wait for the approval of the final location for the project.

Source:brightwebtv.com/nana asare barimah