The 2023 Black Star International Film Festival (BSIFF) has been officially launched in Accra by the National Film Authority.
Under the theme ‘The influence of Tech in Film’, the annual Black Star International Film Festival is slated to take place from 18th to 24th September, 2023 in Accra. The celebration started in 2016 and has left significant marks on the industry, making it possible to be celebrated every year, the authority said.
“Ghana is the second largest gaming country in Africa and last year, Ghanaians spent over US$60million downloading mobile games alone, so these are some of the numbers that we can look at and say that the future is truly tech,” said the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the National Film Authority, Juliet Yaa Asantewa Asante.
She insisted that figures from last year’s activities in the film industry are signs of progress. Linking gaming to the film industry, Ms. Asante clarified that game makers are also filmmakers considering the skill set, tools and machines needed in production.
“Whatever it is, tech is right here and we cannot run away from it. When I talk, I expand my wide view to include the gaming community because when we think about the gaming community, we do not recognise that the makers of the game are actually filmmakers – they both use cameras, write scripts and edit films,” she explained.
The festival will include film screenings, panel discussions, workshops and networking opportunities for filmmakers, industry professionals and film enthusiasts, among others.
One focus of the festival is celebrating and promoting the works of African filmmakers and Africans in the diaspora. Some of the films to be featured in this year’s celebration will come from filmmakers from Ghana, Norway and Germany.
Ms. Yaa Asantewa Asante further added that the Black Star International Film Festival not only celebrates filmmakers but also aligns filmmakers to the agenda of telling the Ghanaian and African story to the world. “The Black Star International Film Festival was set up not only to celebrate the filmmakers, but one of the things is that as filmmakers travel for funds, it is very critical that we develop the marketplace or the business of film,” Ms. Asante added.
The European Ambassador to Ghana, Irchad Razaaly, for his part, stated the reasons the European Union is sponsoring the festival. “The European Union is proudly supporting the Black Star International Film Festival because the European Union is very big when it comes to education, job creation and culture; and it happens that movie and cinema is at the crossroad of all these ventures. The European Union supported the first ever 3D animation movie in Accra a few weeks ago. So, it is very logical for us to support this edition of the busy festival.”
