Martha Ankomah, a movie star, has stated that she has nothing against films that are made in the native tongue.
Her purpose was to dispel a false belief propagated by some that she detests Kumawood, the rural and Akan/Twi-led movie scene in Kumasi.
Exclusively to Prince Benjamin (PB) on Accra 100.5 FM’s Entertainment Capital, Ms. Ankomah spoke. She was questioned about why she had never acted in a Kumawood film.
“You take up a gig when you are contracted,” she responded.
“And occasionally, you also need to look over the script and the plot. I would not want to be involved in the story if, after reading it, I did not like it. If not, I will take it immediately.
PB questioned her about previous offers of Kumawood gigs.
“The storyline is most important to me, as I told you,” she responded.
Then, pointing to a period when she traveled to Kumasi, in the Ashanti Region, home of Kumawood, to work on a film, she described it.
The businessman remarked, posing a rhetorical question, “Some time ago, it has been quite a while, I traveled to Kumasi to work on a movie with Sammy [Rasta], the movie director—he wears dreadlocks and works with Radio XYZ.” Everything revolves around the plot.”
Netflix collaborates, funds, and shows Nigerian films in Yoruba and Igbo with English subtitles, the philanthropist noted. But the plot, she maintained, is king.
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Is not the plot the most important thing here? It is all about the quality of the image. It all comes down to the production,” she stated.
Martha maintained, factually, that she did not intend or mention Kumawood when she visited Accra 100.5 FM’s Ayekoo Ayekoo in October 2023 and stated she avoids movie roles that make no sense. During the aforementioned interview, both Akua Sonto and Peter Richie mentioned that they applied this rule to every role they considered, both locally and globally.
“If it does not challenge you mentally, inspire positive change, and cause development in the country, there’s no point in being part of it. That’s my opinion,” Martha explained.
According to her, per the time mark provided, she had recently rejected a role in a Nigerian movie. “I was bold enough to tell the person who sent the script that the story doesn’t make sense. I was straightforward, and I have said that to many producers as well,” she said.
Perhaps the only recorded time Martha Ankomah famously named Kumawood in an interview was in 2017, speaking to Hitz FM, when she spoke about her fondness for Kumawood movies, revealed a favourite to be the Samuel Nyamkye-directed movie Kumasi Yonko (2002), and lamented, however, the focus by some Kumawood filmmakers on fetish practices and witchcraft.
“I love Kumawood movies, but what I dislike about their movies is the fetish stuff they inculcate into them. Apart from that, I love their storylines, and they used to have really good movies like Kumasi Yonko, but, of late, most of their movies portray witchcraft, and that does not motivate me to shoot with them,” she said.
Martha shot down allegations that she declined to appear in Kumawood actor and producer LilWin’s ‘A Country Called Ghana’.
