An impressive award ceremony climaxed events of the first Ghallywood Film Festival held from Tuesday December 15 to Saturday December 17, 2011 at the Gallywood Film Village, Dawa in the greater Accra Region of Ghana.

Seventy-two individuals including producers, directors, cameramen, film editors, lights men, actors and actresses, film marketers and journalists among others who contributed to the development of Ghana’s film industry, were awarded with plagues and hampers. The occasion, which enabled most of the practitioners who obviously had not seen each other for a while to interact, was one of joy and comradeship over food and drinks.

Among those who were awarded were, actors; Solomon Sampah, William Addo, MacJordan Amartey, Emmanuel Amarh, Psalm Adjeteyfio, Brew Riverson, Michael Moncah, Augustine Abbey, John Dumelo, Dzifa Glikpoe, Irene Opare, Edinam Atatsi, Kalsum Sinare, Akofa Adjeani and Monica Quacoopone.

The producers, directors and technical people and journalists awarded included, Kofi Bucknor, Tetteh Apain, William Sefa, Edmund Schandorf, George Arcton Tettey, Mark Coleman, H.M. Hammond, Richard Quartey, Steve Asare Hackman, Hajia Meizongo, Alexiboat, Enimil Ashong, Nanabanyin Dadson, Nii Addokwei Moffatt and Nkrabea Effah Darteh.

In a short address by William Akuffo, President of the Ghallywood Film Academy, he thanked all the awardees for their support to the film industry and especially those who assisted him when he was grappling with the idea of using the video format to make a movie, something that expects worldwide had said was not possible.

He said it took that one step of making Zinabu with a VHS camera for the floodgates to open and today, the video format is an acceptable mode of feature film making worldwide and mentioned also among other things that Ghallywood is for every Ghanaian and must be supported to achieve its aim of helping to improve the film industry.

Musical performances by some of the students including Stella Seal who graduated early on in the day and Praye spiced the night making it an evening to remember. The Academy earlier in the morning held its 4th graduation ceremony at which the fourth batch of the youth in film making module under the National Youth Employment Programme passed out.

The graduation which was on the theme, “The Nation’s preparation for peaceful elections: Role of the film maker” saw 450 students passing out of the Ghallywood Film Academy after three months of training in the area of film directing, acting, script writing, camera editing, modeling and broadcasting. Addressing the gathering, the national coordinator of the NYEP, Abuga Pele noted that in the previous three batches, 1,200 students were trained in film making, bringing the total number of students trained at the academy to 1650.

He said the NYEP was satisfied with the results that are being produced by the graduates of the academy who have gone out to produce films that are of very high standards adding though that there is room for improvement.

He urged them not to relax and allow complacency to dictate to them but continue to work harder so they can compete with any other saying in the film industry and creative arts generally, creativity, practice and hard work determine the heights that one could climb.

Abuga Pele said as the country hold elections next year, it is expected that the graduates would use their most powerful tool to influence the direction of campaigns positively with their films. The Minister for Youth and Sports, Kofi Humado, said the ministry was encouraging the film making module under the NYEP because it opens up further attractive field of job opportunities for the youth in Ghana.

He said the module is also aimed at bridging the information gap in society especially between the rural population and the urban population by focusing on capturing images of rural life, rural development issues and bringing them to the attention of the rest of the world.

He urged the graduates to come out with films that not only entertain but also inform and educate their audiences for them to understand the political processes and activities and to discern between the truth and falsehood.

The president of Ghallywood Film Academy, William Akuffo noted that films are a good avenue to educate, inform and entertain, apart from seeing them as reducing stress and other tension in society. “With next year being an election year, we will need films to chart the course of peace.” He added.

Madam Ama Ataa Aidoo, an author and a playwright who chaired the function said film makers should improve on the content of their films and do away with the juju issues and touch on issues that affect society, which can be solved by ourselves rather than spirits. She called on women to insist on their rights in all endevours and made a request through the NYEP to the minister of youth and sports for the government to pay more attention to women’s football. She pledged to associate herself to the activities of Ghallywood to help improve on the content of our movies.

A seminar, film shows, a football match between the Actors Guild of Ghana and students of the academy as well as a fashion show were part of events held during a five-day film festival to among other things bring old and new students together to meet practitoners in the industry.