BACK-OFF! Movie Awards Organizer Warns. …Producers Association Unhappy

By Hi Newspaper

Ghana Movie Awards Foundation (G.M.A.F), owner of the yet-to-be launched Movie Awards Ghana (M.A.G) show, has warned event management companies working on similar event, to refrain from using that name.

Mr. F. Nuamah, president of G.M.A.F, who showed his trade mark rights to Hi Newspaper, said G.M.A.F's subsidiary, Stick Entertainment Ltd has registered and acquired the exclusive Trade Mark in Class 41 from the Registrar-General's Department and therefore refrains any organizer from using the name, Ghana Movie Awards.

Meanwhile, Rockson Adu-Boahen, ceo of Item 3 House, has told Hi Newspaper that his outfit was about to activate Ghana Movie Awards, which has been endorsed by the Film Producers Association of Ghana. His organization has been working on this show after abandoning the name Ghallygold, which Item 3 House publicly launched a couple of months ago but were unable to roll out due to lack of sponsorship.

In May 2010, Rockson joined Fred Nuamah's Stick Entertainment to put up one awards show named Movie Awards Ghana, but weeks after this announcement, Rockson was heard on Peace FM's entertainment Review show as saying he had fired Fred Nuamah, an assertion Fred condemned saying: “I gave him money to register the company for the show, which he did not do, so I don't know what he meant by firing me”.

Fred Nuamah’s team has promised a much bigger event (M.A.G), according a spokesperson “we are launching in two weeks at the Africa Reagent Hotel. The main show comes off in November this year, sponsorship or not”.

Though Item 3 House has so far received 93 movie entries from producers seeking nominations for this year's show, Rockson fails to convince us if his outfit would not disappoint Ghanaians this time round when they fix a day for the main show. For instance as of now, they are not sure if the final event would be at the National Theatre or the Accra Int. Conference Centre. “That depends on our major sponsors’ request,” Rockson said.

Meanwhile Augustine Abbey a.k.a Idikoko, President of the Film Producers Association of Ghana (FIPAG) has said to Hi Newspaper that his outfit was not happy with the manner Item 3 House was going about their preparations. “It lacks seriousness”. He denied claims by Rockson that FIPAG has signed a five year contract with his outfit to affiliate with the show.

“We only gave him an endorsement letter to ease his sponsorship solicitation. We hardly hear from him and when he does communicate with us, he doesn't give us the news we want to here. The FIPAG is very much interested in putting an award show in place to honour ingenuity in our industry for which reason we have set up a 3-member committee to support the award show”

An authentic movie award show is long overdue considering that it’s been 8 years since the last major awards show was organized. “The Globe, Oscar, Emmy are just three of over 15 industry awards shows organized by various outfits in the U.S movie industry”, an industry critique argues, “I therefore don't see the need for arguments and counter arguments about this same subject every week”.