The Vim Views & Versions - Blogs of a MIghTy African

I love watching African movies. Sometimes when people introduce themselves in Konnect Groups (run by GhanaThink) and say that they like movies, I ask them about their favorite Ghanaian or African movies. I saw some billboards for the PAWN movie by Lynx Entertainment and Tigon Creative Studios, and I said to myself that this movie would break my cinema going duck. 100 is more affordable than what I thought the Silverbird Cinema ticket price would be after some horror stories friends shared on WhatsApp. So 1 fine Saturday, after attending a family related funeral with my sister Stacy and her kids, I decided to head to the Accra Mall to watch PAWN. How did you read that?  🤣 Get your mind out of the gutter and read this blog post, so that I can convince you to also go and watch PAWN. I did not watch the trailer before going to watch this movie. It actually did not occur to me. So I entered the cinema after getting my ticket with no expectations. I expected great music because of Richi...

Earlier this year,  +Oral Ofori  got in touch with me about the '1 Night in Vegas' movie. I hadn't heard about it yet. It was a  +Koby Maxwell  production. I'd seen Koby's first movie, Paparazzi - Eye in the Dark, when it premiered in the Bay Area. I interviewed him about it here and publicized it here . I was getting the chance to review a movie and preview it before it was available to the public. Always exciting. Upon some research, I realized that it featured   John Dumelo and Yvonne Nelson , two of Ghana's most popular movie stars. Van Vicker returned from the cast of Paparazzi - Eye in the Dark , joined by Jimmy Jean-Louis , the Haitian movie star who also starred in Leila Djansi's Sinking Sands . Another Haitian actress was part of the cast - Sarodj Bertin . In proper social media parlance, the movie has a hashtag. #OneNightInVegas . " We had a great time. Made love in Vegas. It's just weird that you're still here ".  #One...

Before I get into this blog post proper, let me declare that South African Airways is my favorite airline. I really looked forward to flying it earlier this month from Accra to Johannesburg because I expected to watch some great African movies. This time, I got to watch the much acclaimed Nairobi Half-Life . Relelased in 2012, Nairobi Half-Life was directed by David Tosh Gitonga and features many rather unknown actors and actresses like Joseph Wairimu, Olwenya Maina and Nancy Wanjiku Karanja . I knew I wanted to blog about and review the movie once I began to watch it and took some notes. I loved the movie and would recommend it as a collectible. It's been billed as the most successful Kenyan movie ever. Sometimes, great movies give birth to great actors. In many places like Ghana, good actors sell good or not so good movies. The notion that you always need bankable actors and actresses to produce successful movies is not always true. This movie was the very first Kenyan ...

I am a big proponent of Made in Ghana and Made in Africa products. So when I saw the "Made in Africa" panel session at the World Economic Forum event on Africa, I was interested in attending it. Seeing Anant Singh on the panel had me sold. Joining Singh in the session were Xavier-Luc Duval (Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Mauritius), Jubril Adewale Tinubu (GCEO, Oando Plc), Rich Lesser (global CE and president, The Boston Consulting Group) and Tabitha M. Karanja (CE, Keroche Breweries Ltd). It was moderated by Robyn Curnow (CNN Africa correspondent) and the session was broadcast on CNN. I had been in a session with Wale Tinubu earlier that week where I learnt a lot. See the blog post here . One thing I always do when I am in South Africa is look to buy the latest local movies that are great. Anant Singh has been directing and producing a bunch of them. Amongst his work include Sarafina, Cry, The Beloved Country, Yesterday, Jozi, Sh...

I received an email earlier this week about the House of Gold movie premiere from Optimum Media. I had seen the billboards in Accra and I was interested in watching the movie. The Pascal Amanfo Imagination (aka movie directed by Pascal Amanfo) and Yvonne Nelson production featured an all-star cast with an intriguing movie title - House of Gold. I hadn't reviewed a Ghanaian movie in awhile so I saw this as a fine opportunity to jumpstart that for 2013. After trying to but unsuccessfully getting a media tag for the premiere on Friday, April 12, I arrived at the National Theatre at 8:15pm ready to watch the second screening at 8:30pm. Interestingly, there was another event happening at National T - Face of Wisconsin. As in Wisconsin University in Ghana, don't get it twisted. The premiere was organized by Media GH, a media arm of Dream Holdings, of which Yvonne Nelson is an owner. Many Ghanaian entertainers are using their earnings and benefits of being celebrities to create mo...

Earlier tonight, I was at the Goethe Institut in Accra for the first time in more than 10 year s. The last time I was there, I had attended a literary event as a student of Presec . That night, my love for poetry was born. But let's talk about that in another blog post. Tonight, I was there for the premiere of " Kweku Ananse And The Chest of Stories ", directed by Johannes Preuß from Germany. I don't remember the last time I watched anything Kweku Ananse related and either I am too old to watch " By the fireside ", I don't have a TV or they just don't make "By the fireside" anymore. I love Anansesem though and I wrote this blog post a long time ago on GhanaThink's GhanaConscious Blogs . I do have this animated movie though - " Ananse Must Die ". I was excited to see this film and I booked it on my calendar. And on this one too . The premiere started with a documentary which I missed. But we can all watch it at the end of...

Happy Women's History Month! This marched into our lives before we knew it and then I started thinking a lot about Yaa Asantewaa. In fact, nothing speaks more of Women's History as dominantly as the story of the one-time queenmother of Ejisu. She is a symbol of a leading lady, having led the Ashanti people against the British in the War of the Golden Stool. I've discussed the legend of Yaa Asantewaa and how it should be in a movie many times, notably with the GhanaThink community. Paa Kwesi got us started when he revealed his infatuation with epic movies . When I started celebrating Ghanaian movies, I championed the idea again. and it made me ask questions about Yaa Asantewaa. I posted " Me, am waiting for a Yaa Asantewaa movie o! " on Facebook. And then, this happened. Sangu Delle ,   Mirian Diop   and   Rita Afrakomah Nketiah   like this. Deji Ojo   Dude! Have u been reading my mind for the past 3 months? I even sent Spike lee a ...