Ghanaian movie producer and director, Shirley Frimpong Manso has lamented on the;unsupportive nature of most Ghanaians towards the movie industry and she wishes it stops.
The award-winning producer in an interview averred that Nigerians are doing better off in their movie industry than Ghana because Nigerians are very supportive of one other. She further advised Ghanaians to start supporting the movie industry just like the Nigerians have been doing.
“The Nigerians are very good when it comes to supporting their own;but the pulling down in Ghana is just too bad and I wish it stops. We don’t like supporting our own, and I am not surprised the;Nigerians are ahead of us when it comes to production. If Netflix has an office in Nigeria, then it should tell you that we are lagging behind”.
Shirley Frimpong almost quits filmmaking
Touching on her profession as a filmmaker and how far she has come, Shirley;disclosed that there have been countless times when she wanted to quit being a producer. Shirley, who has produced a good number of quality movies which have won her;awards, stated that but for the encouragement of her fans, she would have quit being a filmmaker. According to her, the difficulties she has to go through in producing a movie which;sometimes runs into losses discouraged her from continuing as a filmmaker.
“Had it not been the encouragement I get from the fans, loved;ones, and the actors, I might probably have quit producing movies a long time ago. It is so stressful putting together a movie, the production that goes into just one movie is sometimes unbearable”.
That notwithstanding, Shirley has released her most anticipated movie, ‘Chasing Lullaby (A Mother’s Day Story)’. The movie which featured some of Ghana’s top entertainment personalities including James Gardiner, Jocelyn Dumas, Anita Erskine, Naana Hayford, Sis Derby among others was released on all streaming platforms on Sunday, May 9, to mark the Mother’s Day celebration.
Sparrow Station reconstructs streaming platform
Speaking of Shirley’s movie streaming platform, Sparrow Station, it has reconstructed its streaming service to ensure a wider reach of its content. The new face of the subscription-driven platform will include the release of feature films, short films, series, short series, shows, and documentary films.
The streaming service will now feature new content like Shirley Frimpong Manso’s new Mother’s Day inspired movie ‘Chasing Lullaby’, Covid-19 inspired film ‘Us in Between’, ‘Adams Apples the movie’, and many others.
According to a statement by the streaming platform, to ensure consumers enjoy the best of content in older films like ‘Adams Apples, Season 1 and 2’, ‘V Republic’, ‘Shampaign’, ‘Potato Potahto’, ‘Perfect Picture’, ‘Love or Something Like That’, ‘Rebecca’ and many more of such movies will also feature on the platform.
“Our goal is to provide for our audience premium African entertainment produced in Ghana. We have told progressive African stories that have made people laugh, cry, and even fall in love.
“As the world gets smaller through the convergence of technology and the exploration of varied cultures, we find that it’s our place to contribute to this convergence in our own little way, through the stories we tell. Stories that will continue to entertain and inform the world about us. All our classic, new, and future content can now be streamed from anywhere in the world via our sparrow station apps”.
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