Complacency Killed Kumawood — Bill Asamoah

The local movie industry, popularly known as Kumawood, which at a point was the saviour as the English movie scene stagnated, is experiencing its own troubles which threatens its survival.

Stakeholders have attributed the problems to the power crisis which lasted for about three years, piracy and the influx of telenovelas on our TV screens but for Kumawood actor, Bill Asamoah, complacency is the major cause.

In an interview with Showbiz, Bill Asamoah, who is the President of the Kumasi chapter of the Actors Guild said, “As an industry, we were too comfortable.

We realised the VCD was being phased out and instead of us changing to be abreast of the times, we relaxed and it has overtaken us,” he said.

“We thought the people who were buying the VCDs were okay little did we know that the trend had changed. Now it’s about cinemas and selling movies online and we hope and pray that we will be able to adapt to new technologies,” he added.

Bill Asamoah said players in the local music industry are still discussing ways to the deal with their problems.

“We need to be abreast of new technologies and have to come up with innovative ways of getting our movies to Ghanaians. Some of us are suggesting pen drives on which we will encrypt the movies so that people don’t copy them unnecessarily.

“We could also get people to come to the cinemas to watch our local movies. So we’re thinking outside the box and we hope to find a clear way to deal with the situation for our movies to appeal to everyone,” he stated.

He also called on stakeholders who have brilliant ideas as to how to save the situation to come on board. According to him, a lot of actors will be jobless if the issues are not addressed as fast as possible.

Bill Asamoah is one of the veterans of Kumawood and has featured in a host of movies including No Going Back, Yi W’ani, Prince Of Wealth, Pastor and Our Wives, Me Nua and Enye M’ania.

Source: Graphic Online