The Film Academy of Ghana:

Kingsley Sam Obed Looks to a Bright Future for the Arts in West Africa

Premiere Issue (P. 58)

By Jane Delson

In May, 2005, Bruno Pischiutta, President and CEO of Toronto Pictures, Inc., founded The Film Academy of Ghana, the first such institution in his long-held plan to create a global diaspora of film schools designed to engender professional cinematography. Pischiutta named Pastor Kingsley Sam Obed, a native Ghanaian, to serve as CEO of the institution. The two men met in West Africa when Pischiutta was first making plans to shoot his forthcoming film, Punctured Hope, in Sepeimann, a small village just outside of Accra, Ghana’s capital city.

Obed was a noted local writer, with extensive experience writing scripts for regional film producers, theatres and television facilities. His work ranged from drama to comedy, and his knowledge of native Ghanaian history and culture proved invaluable to Pischiutta, who promptly engaged him to write the screenplay for Punctured Hope. The film, which will be premiered in Cannes in May 2006, is a complex and emotional docu-drama which reveals the startling ages-old ritual of Trokosi, a tribal cultural practice that promotes the continued enslavement, mutilation and sexual abuse of West Africa’s young girls and women.

Obed’s screenplay came to directly reflect Pischiutta’s vision for the film he had long conceptualized, and the two men, in tandem with Toronto Pictures’ Vice President, Daria Trifu, set about making a world-class film using an all-African cast and predominantly all-African crew. The venture marked the first time a North American film production company had ventured so far a-field of traditional casting methods and ultimately gave rise to Pischiutta’s realization of his new Film Academy. Pischiutta, Obed and Trifu were extremely fortunate in being able to cast Belinda “Edinam” Siamey in Punctured Hope’s leading role. Siamey, herself a survivor of these culturally imbedded religious beliefs which have affected millions of African women over the past 300 years, immediately brought intensity and credibility to the vehicle. But finding local actors to complete the film’s large cast required both innovation and immediate, intense on-site training.

The formation of the Academy enabled the producers to quickly meet these needs. In the months immediately prior to the filming of Punctured Hope, professional acting classes were held, and a rigorous rehearsal schedule was laid out in preparation for the actual late-summer shoot dates.

Obed, who is also a pastor in Accra’s Word Aflame Ministries, sees the founding of The Film Academy of Ghana as nothing less than Providential for aspiring cinema artists in West Africa. “Toronto Pictures’ involvement in our village is literally an answered prayer,” he states passionately. "It has afforded a new future for the foundering film industry here, by reviving the belief that we can educate our young people to be competitive in acting, writing, directing, producing and marketing films that are viable internationally.” More than merely creating enthusiasm and hope, Obed notes, Toronto Pictures’ Academy has provided Ghana the means to achieve a greater film presence internationally.

The Academy’s expansive curriculum embraces all aspects of film-making – from acting and directing to lighting and set design – among many other skill sets requisite in the making of a movie. Members of the professional Ghana Actors Guild serve as adjunct faculty to the Academy, where classes are held twice weekly with frequent guest lecturers. The students, who currently number close to one hundred, are required to shoot short films which are then critiqued by both the institution’s faculty and their peers. Occasional public screenings are held where local residents may attend, and audience reaction can serve as its own useful instructive.

The Academy’s physical plant is very small and spare by Western standards, offering a single studio and classroom, but Toronto Pictures has plans well in motion to expand the facility, as it simultaneously is committed to enhancing the greater Sepeimann community. Indeed, the Canadian company is donating a significant portion of Punctured Hope’s profits to a West African foundation whose priority is the provision of enhanced educational, medical and infrastructural improvements for the village where the movie was filmed.

"It is remarkable that a North American company with no established financial interests in our country has made such a long-term commitment to our community,” Obed observes. “Bruno Pischiutta has shown himself to us to be much more than a film-maker. He has clearly chosen to use the Arts as a means to affect social and political change…to enhance the quality of the lives he has encountered, here, without changing the essential cultural content of the community.”

Daria Trifu, who also serves as President of the new Academy, echoes Obed’s thoughts about the Academy’s role in bringing new life to the West African film and entertainment industry. “As cinematic artists representing the Continent in general, associates of the Academy now have the opportunity to create a nucleus of great talent who can ultimately define the image of Africa the world comes to know and better understand."

Toronto Pictures is a complex entity, Trifu explains. "We don’t just want to make movies; we want to make movies that educate, inspire and move people towards change proactively. Our artistic mission is to elevate awareness and influence political and cultural consciousness globally, regarding issues of moment, not only to Africa, but to human rights internationally."

Obed reiterates the significance of Punctured Hope in addressing human rights violations endemic in Trokosi, noting that the film has given a global voice to its many victims, who would otherwise have gone largely unnoticed. “When Punctured Hope premieres at Cannes in May, the world will see a startling side of suffering it has rarely encountered with such candor. Our role, as educators at the Academy, is to continue giving voice to victims of injustice in all forms, and to afford artists in all aspects of cinematic production the opportunity to produce films that meet the global industry’s highest standards.”

Kingsley Sam Obed is presently working on a new screenplay intended to expose yet another West African cultural phenomenon which engenders enslavement by propagating belief in witchcraft. Under his stewardship, The Film Academy of Ghana will clearly fulfill its mission of revitalizing West Africa’s film industry and achieving the global social change toward which Toronto Pictures aspires. D

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