Shirley Frimpong-Manso cried out, saying, “Piracy is killing us” as she revealed the terrible impact of piracy of films in Ghana.
The renowned film maker and head of Sparrow Productions explains that she has lost a lot of money and her interest in the industry through the regular leakage of her films.
She also showed that bootlegs, which are sometimes marked with the stamp: Preview Copy, Do Not Distribute, have already appeared prior to the premieres.
This has sent viewers outside the cinemas and VCD sales and it is almost impossible to recover the cost of production.
According to Shirley, film production in Ghana is still excruciating due to these losses.
She continued to say that many producers use up all their savings to produce quality movies and yet they cannot recover their investments.
She appealed to the Ghanaians to patronize the local cinema and urged the authorities particularly the Censorship Board to halt the leaks.
Weak distribution channels such as the VCDs and premieres face the risk of being compromised.
Shirley, the award-winning films and daring female-centered stories, cautioned that piracy did not only hurt the budget but also wears out a promising national film industry.
She is hoping that her open confession will prompt fans, regulators, and industry stakeholders to act in order to rescue the Ghanaian filmmaking.
