Kojo Poet shows passion for the arts
He is not among the notable names or faces in the country’s arts circles but Kingsley Kojo Antwi, nicknamed Kojo Poet’s passion for literature and filmmaking is worthy of note.
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A holder of a Bachelor’s degree in Information Technology in Education from the University of Education Winneba (UEW), Kumasi campus, Kojo Poet was honoured with the African Inspirational Poet Award by the Pentasi B Poetry Association in the Philippines in 2013.
Apart from poetry, the young man has recently steeped himself into filmmaking and his keen ambition to exploit his creative abilities in this country should inspire the youth who see patience in life as a waste of time.
The road to filming
In a chat with Kojo Poet at Abuakwa, Kumasi in the Ashanti Region, he said he started his poetry expedition by creating a blog called ‘41 Dreams’ which eventually metamorphosed into 41 Dreams Films Production.
According to him, he had been cultivating a love for filmmaking since his days at Koforidua Senior High School (SHS) between 2006 and 2009.
Explaining why he decided to take to filmmaking, he said, he was looking for a way to help transform the society and contribute to the development of his people and felt films could help do that.
Last year, he expressed his passion for filmmaking on his Facebook wall and a friend on the social media platform, Nana Yaw Karikari, reached out and said he could help direct a feature script he (Kojo Poet) had written for no fee.
“The project, however, had to be suspended due to financial challenges. A few weeks later after letting go of the feature film idea, God gave me another idea to write mini-series,” he said.
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“I had lost active communication with Karikari but strangely enough, he contacted me to say he was coming to Kumasi for a project so we should meet.”
After some fruitful discussions during which Karikari advised that the script for the mini-series be re-written to make it more gripping and educative, they made concrete plans to start filming the series.
Abanga
“I wanted to travel this year right after my university education but I realised it was better I used the money meant for the trip on shooting the mini-series. I felt the film project could open more doors for me,” Kojo Poet said.
After securing props, auditioning for actors and scouting for locations, the filming of the mini series titled Abanga eventually took off.
Kojo Poet describes Abanga as a social advocacy series intended to tackle the ills of society and teach people about their rights and responsibilities.
“Abanga is the name of the main character. He appears anywhere the law is being broken; he rebukes and teaches the right thing.”
The young poet and screenwriter said the few episodes of Abanga released so far on YouTube had attracted many views as a result of the educative content.
Message to the youth
According to Kojo Poet, giving up on one’s dreams due to obstructions was a way to failure in life.
“Never compromise when it comes to your dream. Let God win and not man. He placed the dream in your heart; friends and family will come and go, but God will still be God,” he said.
Writer’s email: [email protected]