Kumawood Has Not Collapsed - Joyce Boakye

Joyce Boakye has stated that "Kumawood" is evolving.

According to her, contrary to the popular belief that the movie industry collapsed, it is only going through certain stages that will make it come back stronger in the future.

“Things have been bad for us especially when it comes to the finances to push the movies we produce and also some other challenges we face have caused us a little delay in the production of our movies but we are still working”.

This she said in an interview with Foster Romanus on the Late Nite Celebrity Show aired on e.TV Ghana.

The major problems are the necessary adaptations to the technological age, she explained.

She also pinned part of the problem on some misunderstandings amongst the actors and actresses, as she blamed that for the collapse of the industry she does not fully blame them because in spite of all the chaos in the industry work should still go on and should not affect their productivity.

This comes in stark contrast to the words of Papa Kumasi, who claimed that the reconstruction of Kumasi Kejetia and power failure experienced in Ghana some years ago effectively collapsed the industry.

Specifically, in 2015, the government of Ghana moved traders and commercial drivers from Kumasi Kejetia to pave way for the reconstruction of the first phase of the market and to the comic actor, it was a major cause of the industry’s downfall.

“Our customers couldn’t locate the marketers after the reconstruction of the Kejetia project”.

“Kumawood directors, producers and marketers project Kejetia as their marketing place in Kumasi so all our customers before the reconstruction were able to locate us and buy our movies but after the reconstruction, they were not able to locate us when they want to buy our movies,” Papa Kumasi said.

“Though dumsor also affected us yet seriously, the reconstruction of the Kejetia brought a bridge between marketers and customers. The majority of our targeted customers were not in Kumasi so it wasn’t easy for them to even come and buy our movies when the place was demolished”. he explained.

He however noted that the downfall is not the end, as more is still to come.

“The downfall of the local movie industry doesn’t mean the industry has collapsed”.

"Some producers are still on location shooting movies so Kumawood Movie industry has not collapsed. I was on set when you called me. My colleagues and I have been on set several times,” he concluded.