Actor Majid Michel says it makes no sense to compare Ghana’s film industry with Nigeria’s, arguing that Nigeria’s far bigger population gives it a natural advantage.
In an interview with AJdahottest on YFM’s ShoutsOnY, as reported by YFM Ghana, Majid called the comparison “such a stupid comparison to make”. He pointed out that Ghana has just over 30 million people, while Nigeria has almost 300 million. “If you have 50 children and I have five children, the possibility that you have more doctors amongst your children than mine is very high,” he said.
YFM shared his comments in a post on X.
Majid also rejected claims that the Ghanaian film industry is in decline. “Who told you it’s going down?” he asked, insisting that producers and directors are still busy making films. He said the bigger challenge is a lack of cinemas: “If we shoot the film today, where are we showing the film? That’s a problem.” He added: “You need to have patience, and we need to build.” His film No Man of God is set to screen at the Bukom Boxing Arena from 13 to 15 November.
His comments come as others in the industry weigh in on the same debate. National Film Authority (NFA) Deputy Executive Secretary James Gardiner told Kwame Dadzie on Joy FM’s Showbiz A-Z that population size should not be blamed for the struggles of local films, as reported by ModernGhana and Pulse Ghana. “If a film is good, it will travel. When a film is good, forget the numbers, it will travel but it still plays a key role,” he said, adding that the industry needs Ghanaians to support it: “But if we don’t have that support system backing us, it’s not going to work.”
Filmmaker Leila Djansi has also joined the conversation. In a Facebook post reported by the Daily Graphic and KMJ, the director argued that many Ghanaians lack basic film literacy and questioned the rush to release films online. “Releasing a film on YouTube every two months is not an achievement. I daresay it is NOT filmmaking. That’s content creation,” she wrote, adding: “Some films take years to develop, finance, shoot, and complete.”
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