Accra, Sept. 27, GNA - Mr Martin Loh, Director of the National Film and Television Institute (NAFTI) on Monday called on Ghanaian Film Producers to produce films that would motivate people and help to develop the nation.

One of the ways to achieve that was to employ the services of good scriptwriters, since a good script was the basis for a successful film. Mr Loh was speaking at the opening of a two-week workshop for Scriptwriters from Francophone countries.

It was jointly organised by Centre International Formation Audiovisual Production (CIFAP) and NAFTI with support from France. Participants from Chad, Cameroon, Benin, Togo and Burkina Faso are attending the workshop.

Mr Loh said under a memorandum of Understanding between NAFTI and France, CIFAP would take advantage of NAFTI's facilities to organise workshops for their members in Ghana to cut down cost. Under the agreement the centre would bring resource persons to Ghana to take students through the course instead of them travelling to Paris he said.

Mr LOH urged Scriptwriters and Film Producers not follow the western trend of doing things but to write and produce films in the African cultural context.

"Film makers should project the best of our traditions that motivate us and stop promoting the negative and primitive aspect of our tradition," he said.

Mr Oliver Robinet, Counsellor for Co-operation and Cultural Affairs at the French Embassy, said the Embassy would assist in improving the quality of film production in the country and open up the Francophone market for Ghanaian films.

NAFTI he said had been given a grant of 200 million cedis in the last three years and another 120 million cedis to the Dubbing Unit of the Institution to strengthen the links and collaboration between Francophone and Anglophone African Movie Professionals.