A movie producer has expressed utter disgust at the seizure of Video CDs of two of his yet-to-be-released movies “Atta Mortuary Man” and “Oh Uncle Atta,” by persons said to be armed national security men.
Kofi Asamoah claimed the men besieged the premises of his distributor on Saturday and seized 13,000 copies of the CDs which they took to the offices of the BNI.
The Distributor, George Walker Darko, who was arrested but later released Saturday evening confirmed the story to host of Joy FM’s Super Morning Show Kojo Oppong Nkrumah on Monday.
According to Mr Darko, no reasons were given for the seizure except the unequivocal instruction by one of the muscled men that the movies could not be released to the public.
He could not fathom how and why his two comedy movies which have no political inclination or content, except the titles - both of which could manifestly be linked to the President John Atta Mills - would be seized.
He explained that efforts by his distributor to convince the men that the movies had no political coloration fell on deaf ears as the men sang the chorus that they were operating with an order from above.
According to him the two movies have been given a clean bill of health by the Ghana Cinematography Control Board which has the statutory mandate to evaluate contents of movies before they are aired to the public.
He said despite the Board’s decision, the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation prior to the seizure refused, for no justifiable reasons, to promote the movies even though he was ready to pay for it.
Explaining the synopsis of the movies, Kofi Asamoah said “Atta Mortuary Man” is purely a comedy in which the lead actor-Agya Koo, playing the role as Atta, is a susu collector who after fraudulently embezzling the amounts he had collected from the residents decided to ran away from the vicinity. Finding himself in a new locality, he had to pursue other jobs for a living and settled on being a mortuary man.
He noted that similarly, the “Oh Uncle Atta” has no political connotation.
For now the 13,000 CDs are still with the BNI, he said, adding the movies were supposed to be released this week.
He expressed deep frustration at what he described as needless impediments being put on his way by national security over harmless movies that are purely for comedic purposes.
He also lamented the huge financial costs that went into the production.
The National Security is yet to react to the allegations.
Meanwhile, Deputy Information Minister Baba Jamal has said in an interview with Peace FM Monday that the 13,000 copies of the movie were seized because the producer did not complete censorship procedures.
He further explained that though the movie itself had been censored and approved by the Cinematography board, its posters and adverts had not yet been scrutinised since the producer did not make them available at the time the movie was under scrutiny.
Mr Jamal said until the adverts and posters have been properly censored, the movie should not be sold. He added that the national security had to intervene and seize the copies to ensure that laws governing film production were strictly adhered to.
Story by Nathan Gadugah and Dorcas Efe Mensah/Myjoyonline.com/Ghana
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