The winning film production companies are Driving Park Limited (Ghana), AdomiBridge Studios (Ghana), Guguru Studios (Nigeria), and Togo Films (Togo).
By Hope Ibiale
Nigerian film production company, Guguru Studios, and three other African production studios have been announced as the joint winners of a €80,000 grant to produce a musical drama film.
The other winning companies are Driving Park Limited and AdomiBridge Studios from Ghana, and Togo Films from Togo. These companies will jointly produce a musical drama film about illegal mining, commonly known as galamsey in Ghana.
The yet-to-be-produced film, A Dream To Die For, is written by David Masterwille. The film follows a group of young musicians caught up in the galamsey economy. Galamsey, derived from “gather them and sell”, is a local Ghanaian parlance that means illegal small-scale gold mining in Ghana.
Speaking about the cross-cultural and industry benefits of this co-production initiative, Ms Juliet Yaa Asantewa Asante, the Executive Secretary of Ghana’s National Film Authority, noted that co-productions between African filmmakers are a vitally important element in achieving the growth of the African film industry. She made this remark at the beginning of the co-production agreement between the four film production companies.
Funding for the co-production was made possible through the financial contribution of the European Union and the support of the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (ACP) in partnership with the International Organisation of De La Francophonie (OIF) and Creation Africa Ghana, an initiative of the French Embassy in Ghana.