David Dontoh suggests: Ghana movie industry be called ‘Nyamedua’(God Wood)

He went ahead to propose that a name should be carved around ‘akwaaba’ for the movie industry. His reason for Akwaaba is that it is one word that is well known the world over and would catch up easily. But won’t this be another tribal thing?

On the entertainment show ‘Arts and People’ last Sunday on Vision FM, ace actor David Dontoh said that he thinks the suffix ‘wood’ doesn’t bode well to be chosen as name because ‘wood’ is a dead tree. He however proposed Nyamedua which means the living tree. Nyamedua is a certain tree that has long life span. “When we talk about wood, it is a dead tree. Why do we go for something that is dead? When you use ‘Nyamedua’ one would be curious to know what it is and that will sell the ‘industry’ better,” he said.

He added that perhaps what has made it difficult getting a name for the movie industry is the fact that there is not a movie industry in Ghana.

“A movie industry is a huge conglomerate of so many aspects of the movie making process. What goes on before shooting the film, what goes on during and after, which is the marketing are what make up an industry. But we lack all these. In Ghana, we just piece things together to call industry but it doesn’t exist here,” he said.

He intimated that until a film policy is established, it would be difficult to have a vibrant movie industry. He charged the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts to push for the passing of the film policy bill into act so it helps structure the industry.

flex newspaper