Movie industry cliques killing talents — Fatimah Adeoye
The Ghanaian movie industry’s challenges have been widely spoken of, including lack of financial investment and lack of a market, piracy but for relatively new entrant, Fatimah Ama Adeoye, one of the major problems is that old actors fail to give support to the new ones.
Born to a Ghanaian mother and Nigerian father, Fatimah, who joined the movie industry three years ago, told Showbiz that there are cliques in the fraternity and once you are not part of a particular clique, then you do not get support.
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“People have associations, cliques so if you are not part of it, the love is not there, the support is not there, you find it difficult surviving in the Ghana movie industry.
“No one cares, it’s like those who are already in it know themselves so they are comfortable working together but for new ones like us, it is difficult and I think it is not healthy. You have to be someone with a strong will to succeed in this industry,” she said.
It is not only the old actors who are making things difficult for the younger ones, Fatimah also fingered film directors who she said are not open to giving opportunities to new talent.
“You know, it looks like the directors also have people they are comfortable working with so when you are new like that, they do not want to work with you. Not being part of the clique or the favourites means no role for you.
“Now, the old faces are out, people are tired and it is difficult filling their shoes because there was no succession plan. If the new ones tagged along with the old faces, I’m sure by now, we will be somewhere,” the winner of the 2015 Discovery of the Year prize at the City Peoples Entertainment Awards said.
Three years ago Fatimah took the bold step of self producing her first movie, titled, Aliyah but she has not been able to release the movie due to what she says are discouraging messages from people.
“The movie is still there, I have not released it and the reason is that the negative vibes are plenty. People told me I won’t make any impact with the release, I will only spend a large budget on promoting it and I won’t get anything in return. So I decided to hold on to its release. That is how bad our industry has become,” she disclosed.
Fatimah still has a passion for the industry despite the problems, so she is using a different means to break through and get the needed recognition for her talent and that is by producing and doing short films.
She said, “I have resorted to doing short films. They are not expensive and can be easily uploaded on Whatsapp for viewing. With it, I can still get my talent out there without having to spend so much like producing a movie.”
In spite of the challenges she has faced, Fatimah said she will not relocate to Nigeria, where there is a larger market for movies.
“I have businesses I am running here. I have a lot of friends in the Nigerian movie industry but my life is here so it will be difficult taking that step. I am not in a rush, I have passion for it but it is not a do or die affair for me as well.”