The Ga Mantse, King Tackie Teiko Tsuru II, has called on government to commit itself to the production of films that will project some of Ghana’s untold stories.
In a speech read on his behalf by Joy FM sports journalist Nathaniel Attoh during the second edition of the Africa Cinema Summit at the Mövenpick Hotel in Accra, the Overlord of the Ga land acknowledged the role of cinema in preserving the culture and heritage of people.
In tandem with this, he called on government to produce a film that will tell the story of celebrated Ghanaian boxer Azumah Nelson.
”Considering we are on the Ga Adamgbe land and considering that he is a custodian of the Ga Adamgbe culture, there is a story of one of the most achieved athletes from the African continent: Barima Professor Azumah Zumzum Nelson, who is a son of the Ga soil.
“The story [of Azumah Nelson] has that of culture, inspiration and has that of projection for the future, the African way. This is one of the many stories that can be pursued in a very vigorous way by the government that takes over in the year 2025,” he said.
Azumah Nelson is a former professional Ghanaian boxer who was active between 1979 and 2008. He was a two-weight world champion, who held the WBC featherweight titled from 1984 to 1987 and the WBC super featherweight title twice between 1988 and 1997.
He also challenged once for the unified WBC and IBF lightweight titles in 1990. At regional level, he held the ABU and Commonwealth featherweight titles between 1980 and 1982. He is widely considered one of the greatest African boxers of all time.
Expressing hope in the future of African cinema, the King also touched on how the foreign media accentuated stories that portrayed a lot of negativity about the African continent.
“We also remember with a lot of pain the images that have been projected in the foreign media away from the African continent, and we all do know what we are talking about. Those unfortunate images of people who are distressed and woken by the sides of the streets were in actual fact the people in Rwanda and their leadership under His Excellency President Kagame, were looking at a future, or they were looking at a day like today,” he said.
King Tackie Teiko Tsuru II, therefore, admonished Africans to take advantage of film as a tool for social change.
“As we embark on this journey at the Africa Cinema Summit, let us reaffirm our commitment to cinema as a vital tool for cultural preservation, economic empowerment and social transformation. The relevance of cinema cannot be overstated. It is a reflection of our past, and the representation of our present, as well as a projection of our future,” he further noted.
The four-day summit, which started on October 7, 2024, will end on Thursday, October 10, 2024.
The 2024 programme focuses on growth in quality of local content production and consumption, driving the case for increased cinema investment.
The first edition of the event, drew various filmmakers from 20 African countries to Ghana for varied conversations on growing cinema on the continent.
This year’s edition has gotten even bigger with more progressive conversations on how to further consolidate the progress made in the African cinema industry, fostering collaboration, innovation and sustainable growth.
It has drawn, from across the globe, film buffs such as English actor of Ghanaian descent, Idris Elba, who headlined the opening of this year’s event.
As part of the activities for the 2024 edition of the summit, there shall be a Legacy Award ceremony on Wednesday, October 9, 2024, at the Mövenpick Hotel.
The Africa Cinema Summit, organised by the National Film Authority, is in partnership with Filmhouse Group (Nigeria), Silverbird Cinema (Ghana), Cinema Exhibitors Association of Nigeria, Century CineMax (Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda), Canal Olympia, among others.