Filmmaker, Pan Africanist and executive of the Ghana Culture Forum, Akofa Edjeani, has disclosed that one of the ways people can share their stories is through movies.

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She noted that it is always right to tell “your story yourself because if you leave it for others to tell it for you, they will twist it and tell it to favor them.”

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In an interview with Eunice Toryni on e.tv Ghana’s ‘African Women’s Voices’, she said, “So you have to tell your own story because you will be accurate and you will know how to tell it better than anyone else. We need to tell our stories and the best and right ways to do it is through film.”

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According to her, one of the ways colonial masters used to teach their colonies was through film.

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“They used film to teach us how to drink tea, how to dress or what to wear and till date, we’re still doing everything they taught us because they were able to change and manage our perception through filmmaking,” she said.

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She emphasized that this is why she always pays attention to what she wears as an icon in the creative space.

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“Also, I take culture very seriously. For the past 30 years or more, 98% of the time, I make sure that I’m dressed in African wear or Ghanaian accessories and people know me for that. So it’s a conscious choice I make and when I make a movie, I make sure I project these things in there because I know what my country stands to benefit from doing that and Africa as a continent,” she added.

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She furthered that this is why if Ghanaians want to tell their story right, “it’s up to our directors and producers to have that consciousness when making a movie and agree on what they want out there it.

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People are afraid of what they don’t know and one of the ways to let people love and understand where you’re coming from and where you want to go is through film. So, the things you say and project in your film is how you brand your country and yourself,” she stated.

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Source:ghanaweb.com

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