BY Daniel Bampoe
Ghanaian actress, producer, and long-time industry advocate Selassie Ibrahim has reignited the national conversation on the decline of the once-thriving movie industry, placing the blame firmly at the feet of local television networks.
In a candid interview on Daybreak Hitz on Hitz FM, the veteran filmmaker argued that the collapse of “Ghallywood” was not accidental but the result of years of deliberate programming choices that sidelined local content in favour of cheap, foreign films.
A Golden Era Lost
In the early 2000s, Ghana’s movie industry enjoyed remarkable growth, driven by home-video productions, rising stars, and a growing domestic audience. Producers such as Abdul Salam Mumuni, Roger Quartey, and Selassie Ibrahim herself helped push Ghanaian stories to prominence.
However, by 2015, production volumes had dropped drastically. Analysts attributed this to the explosion of foreign satellite channels, absence of local content regulations, and shrinking investment in film.
While many in the industry have blamed piracy or weak government support, Ibrahim argues the root cause lies with local TV stations that turned their backs on the very content creators who sustained the industry.
“TV Channels Killed Our Industry”
Speaking with palpable frustration, Ibrahim said Ghanaian television networks created an impossible business environment for filmmakers by refusing to pay fair licensing fees for local movies.
“TV channels are not helping us,” she declared. “You shoot content and send it to them; they look into your eyes and offer you GH₵1,000 when I spent over $20,000 to $30,000.”
According to her, this pricing gap pushed producers into unsustainable debt, ultimately driving many out of the business.
She insists that local productions cannot survive when the cost of production dwarfs the compensation offered by broadcasters.
Preference for Cheap Foreign Content
Ibrahim described what she calls a systemic preference for foreign content, especially older films that TV stations acquire at minimal cost.
These foreign movies—some more than a decade old—are frequently prioritised over new Ghanaian productions that require higher licensing fees.
“Yet they go and buy movies that are 10 years old that made their money from cinema and everything,” she lamented. “Do you want to collapse our businesses? You’ve done it.”
Industry observers have long questioned why Ghana lacks local content quotas similar to Nigeria and South Africa, where laws force broadcasters to dedicate a percentage of airtime to homegrown films. Without such rules, Ghanaian producers are left competing against cheap imports in a market skewed against them.
A Cultural Problem: The Reluctance to Celebrate Ghanaian Art
Beyond the economics, Ibrahim believes there is a deeper cultural challenge at play.
She argues that Ghanaians are conditioned—partly through television programming—to embrace foreign movies while dismissing local productions.
“When you go to Nigeria, they don’t watch Ghanaian movies. But in Ghana, anything foreign is fine; everything Ghanaian is bad,” she said. “We don’t know how to celebrate our own… and that is what has killed Ghana movie till today.”
This cultural mindset, reinforced by TV schedules dominated by foreign telenovelas and Nollywood classics, has eroded the local audience base that once sustained Ghanaian producers.
Calls for Reform and Industry Revival
Ibrahim’s remarks revive a long-standing demand for government intervention through policy reforms, including fair pricing structures, local content quotas, and incentives for broadcasters to support local productions.
She maintains that without a deliberate effort from both regulators and TV station owners, the movie industry cannot return to its former glory.
Her plea comes at a time when several African countries are aggressively investing in film as a tool for job creation, cultural preservation, and global soft power. For Ghana, she says, the path to revival begins with valuing and investing in home-grown stories.
“People say Ghanaian film is dead,” she said. “My heart bleeds. But it started from the TV channels—because they killed our industry.”
