Film Classification Committee Has Received Zero Submission – Socrate Safo

Chairman of the Film Classification Committee of the National Film Authority, Socrate Safo has revealed many stakeholders such as television stations and film producers,  have ignored the call to submit all audiovisual materials to the committee before airing.

According to him, since the Classification Committee officially started calling for submissions from stakeholders on 15th June 2020, not a single submission has been made.

He made this known in an interview with The New Publisher in Accra yesterday indicating, the law will take its cause on the matter.

“The television stations have called our bluff. So, we have to see what the law says when someone calls our bluff. As we speak, not a single film has been presented to us. Yet, we have engaged over 50 trained people at our office for previewing purposes to help speed up the process, because we know the volume of work that would be coming our way, and we want to avoid any delays”, he said.

He added,  “Personally, I have been to all the television stations to have a one – on – one conversation. We have also been on their shows to discuss this issue, and even written to them stipulating what they need to do. The process is not difficult. For the television stations, they are just to tell owners of the content to submit their works to the Classification Committee before bringing it to them”.

Socrates Safo further indicated that these are times when Ghanaians need to pay attention to what they consume on television and avoid unwholesome material.

“I’m calling on everybody to standup. Parents should know what to do because the Television Stations are saying that they can show anything they want; they don’t give a damn about the law”.

The Minister of Tourism, Arts & Culture, Hon. Barbara Oteng Gyasi, in accordance with the Development & Classification of Film Act 2016 months ago appointed Mr. Safo to spearhead the Committee in ensuring an effective classification of films and audio-visual content that comes into the Ghanaian  market and  the media landscape.

By virtue of being nominated by the Minister,  the venerated movie maker  assumed  the role of Chairman per provisions in the Film Act 2016, Section 8 (2) (a).

Socrate Safo is the head of Move Africa Productions and has to his credit movies such as Hot Fork, Love and Sex, Sexy Angel,  God Is Wicked among others.