Ghanaian filmmaker, Nana Asihene has shared the difficulties he encountered while creating a documentary about Ghanaian music.
In a Facebook post on November 17, 2024, the filmmaker and director revealed that he had to put on hold a documentary about the music industry because industry persons demanded money before partaking while others were unwilling.
“We paused development on a documentary about Ghanaian Music because the music practitioners were not willing to collaborate. And others were asking for money from us, the people who were going to bring attention to them,” he wrote.
He emphasized that a similar project has commenced with the football industry and he’s facing same challenges.
This situation, he said may compel him to use foreign football personalities rather than Ghanaian personalities.
“We have started another project that involves football and facing the same hurdles. We will finish it (Nyame Adom) and even use another country’s football personalities. I hope not. But it may come to that,” the film maker noted.
Nana Asihene added that regardless of the challenges, one day he will tell the story of how “selfish” and “myopic” the Ghanaian is.
‘Till then, we’ll make MAGIC! inshallah. So help us God,” he concluded.
Responding to his comment, another film maker and music video director David Nicole-Dey wrote: “Bro, I tried doing the same thing a few years ago with a slew of shows and music documentaries, investing over 2 million Ghana cedis plus from my own money in the production. Given the Ghanaian/African attitude, my entire investment was wasted. So I understand your pain; we are our own downfall.”
Several creatives have in the past lamented about the lack of proper story telling or documentaries that represent the Ghanaian story or posits the story of the Ghanaian creative industry.
Nana Asihene’s challenges as well as David’s could probably be the reason the industry lacks such documentaries or storytelling to portray the real story of the Ghanaian culture.
