Idris Elba, an English actor, has disclosed that he and his partners have started laying the groundwork for the construction of a film studio in Ghana and throughout West Africa.
During a visit to Jubilee House, the actor told President Akufo-Addo that while the film business in Africa has great potential, there isn’t enough infrastructure to support it.
The actor is therefore confident that the project, once it is finished, would entice producers to choose Ghana for film production on the continent.
“Currently, we call it West African Studios, but that’s a working title. We’ve been working on this for three or four years to raise a plan that puts a facility at the center of African filmmaking. There’s a lot for African filmmaking, but the facilities are lacking.”
Although their plans are in place, Idris Elba believes that policies that encourage filmmakers to set their productions in Ghana and other West African countries are needed.
He said that throughout their planning and study, they created the guidelines for the policy and added that they aimed to comprehend what foreign filmmakers required from Ghana.
Without a clear regulatory framework, the country can have all the movie studios it wants, but it won’t draw in directors, according to the “Beast of No Nation” actor.
“We realized that policy is where the actual groundwork needs to be laid. We’ve studied the models of South Africa, incredible incentive packages, Greece, Morocco and these are all places where they realize the value of the filmmaking and they’ve brought that policy into play.”
“National Film Authority has done the work and put together a very comprehensive plan to propel Ghana into the forefront. It needs to be robust and competitive with the rest of the world. We believe for sure that Ghana should step up in terms of attracting those filmmakers. I’ve come and seen you and presented to you essentially, just the parameters of what we need to do.”
Idris Elba received assurance from President Akufo-Addo that a policy framework for the nation’s film industry is being created by the Ministry of Tourism, Arts, and Culture.
He suggested that the head of the Creative Arts Agency consult with the Tourism Minister to review the plan in light of what the Ministry is doing to make sure there were no gaps.
