Producer of ‘Ghana Must Go’ which has received six nominations at the 2017 Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards (AMVCA), Yvonne Okoro says her resilience is paying off.The movie, which was the only Ghanaian movie nominated for the awards, featured a cast from Nigeria and Ghana.
Yvonne, whose first produced movie ‘Contract’ grabbed four awards at the same event two years ago, in response to what gives her films international recognitions, told MzGee her strategy is hard work.
The nominees for the fifth edition of the AMVCA were revealed last week in Lagos Nigeria. 'Ghana Must Go' received a number of nominations with ace actor Kofi Adjorlolo being nominated for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Movie/TV series.
“I think we worked hard during this movie. Working on the ‘Contract’, I had the help of Sparrow Production but on this one, I wanted to go on my own, so it was very difficult. The team put in their best so I hope all those nominated would win and say that they were part of this project,” she opined.
Miss Okoro alluded that, movie production entailed more than just hard work citing the script, cast, promotion and marketing of the movie as key ingredients to its success.
“Yes, I think the script matters and I have wonderful people who together we bring the script alive so I guess that also probably caught people’s attention. Then obviously once the production is done you have to market it well so I guess my team did a great job.”
The actress cum producer disclosed that the publicity given the film ahead of its premiere in Nigeria after its release early this year is also a contributory factor to its success.
“It takes a lot so you need to let people be aware so sometimes you see that there is a movie that there is a lot of hype about it and then they nominate it… the hype helps and if it is a good movie that should (also) play a role.”
Yvonne did not submit her movie for the recently held Ghana Movie Awards because she still stands by her stance that the scheme is not credible.
“I took my movie to the Golden Movie Awards and it did amazingly well. The reason why I don’t take [my movies] to the Ghana Movie Awards is... it is not creditable. You want to take your movie where the people who are looking at it, understand your craft, understand what you put into it and who will judge it firm and squarely and I don’t think that the Ghana Movie Awards is that type of platform,” Yvonne stated passionately.