Veteran actress, Akofa Edjeani has said she believes that women have played various roles in filmmaking and have excelled in the process.

In a graphiconline.com report, Akofa emphasized the need for the media to highlight the efforts of women who work behind the scenes as sound recordists, directors of photography, and production managers.

“If the media will talk more about what they do, it will go a long way to help because people don’t see those who work behind the camera. They only see those of us in front of it.

“A lot of people don’t even read the end credits to know if the editor was a female or the sound recordist was a woman so if we start putting the spotlight on them and highlighting them, that is one way to project them. They can also be talked about in schools when they are having career counseling so that they will know filmmaking is not a preserve for men,” she said.

She suggested that discussing the roles of these women in schools during career counseling would help people understand that filmmaking is not a male-only preserve.

Akofa also shared her thoughts on various guilds in the industry, including the Ghana Actors Guild and Screen Actors Guild, stating that they can do better in terms of organization and effectiveness.

She expressed the need for a star system, where A-list actors are paid a certain amount, and the contract system, which currently does not exist in the industry.

“We need to do more so it brings some sanity in the system and when we are properly organised, then we can make the demands that we need to.

“For instance, as it is now, we don’t have the star system where one can say this A-list actor is in the film and this renowned director is directing it so I am going to see it. We don’t have a system where an ace actor gets to be paid a certain amount.

“There are certain amounts A-list actors are paid and it should never be less than that. We also don’t even have the contract system so people act without contracts but the conversation is ongoing and I am sure all that will be sorted out,” she added.

Notwithstanding the hurdles, Akofa is confident that the continuous dialogue will result in significant improvements in the business.

She is now working on a play named The Second Coming of Nkrumah, written by Latif Abubakar, in which she will feature, which will be produced in March 2023.

Akofa was recently honoured with an award at the Sotigui Awards in Burkina Faso for her efforts in the film business over the past 35 years and for being an example to actresses around Africa.



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