Renowned movie producer Kofi Asamoah is aggrieved at the Cinematograph Exhibition Board of Control for stopping him from releasing his movie ‘Oh Uncle Attah’ but has given his colleague, Kaakyire Kwame Appiah the go ahead to premiere his latest movie, ‘Who Killed Uncle Attah?’.
Kofas sharing his ordeal on Radio Univers’ mid-morning entertainment show, Brunch2Lunch said the censorship board had a problem with his movie title seven years back but saw nothing wrong with Kaakyire’s when he submitted it for review. The sorrowful movie producer disclosed that they denied him the chance of releasing the movie because they said the title ‘Oh Uncle Attah’ was political. According to him, the reason they gave him was awkward because the movie had nothing to do with the then president, late Attah Mills.
“They said it was towards the presidency at the time because of the title “Oh Uncle Attah”. I defended it that the name ‘Uncle Attah’ could be anyone but they insisted that they will not allow it to be released. I had already produced about 20,000 copies of the movie.” Kofas told Zionfelix, host of the show.
The CEO of Kofas Media continued that he spent between Gh30, 000 and Gh40, 000 on the movie which was banned so he cannot fathom why censorship board which prevented him from selling ‘Oh Uncle Attah’ will bend the rules to permit Kaakyire Kwame Appiah to release a movie with the late president’s name as a title.
When Kaakyire Kwame Appiah was called on the show, he confirmed producing a movie titled ‘Who Killed Uncle Attah?’. He also affirmed that the Cinematograph Exhibition Board of Control has allowed him to premiere the movie because there was no way they could ban the film. The musician cum actor stated that he would have sued them if they prevented him from selling ‘Who Killed Uncle Attah?’ movie since he has spent about Gh100, 000 on it. To him, the movie has nothing to do with the death of late Mills so the censorship board has no reason to ban the film.
“Anybody who wants to ban my movie wants to stand before court because ‘Who Killed Uncle Attah?’ refers to nobody. Maybe Kofi was quiet after he was stopped but I’ll never be mute if it happens to me.” he said.
Kaakyire Kwame Appiah telling Zionfelix the synopses of the movie expected to be premiered on September 2 at Miklin Hotel in Kumasi said, “it is about one M.C.E whose deputy found him a wife and later died. So we are asking who killed Uncle Attah? Is it the deputy, wife or people around who envied him? The family of the M.C.E wanted some benefits from him but he was not giving them the attention and at the same time his deputy wanted to occupy his position and wife also wanted his property so we are asking about the murderer of this M.C.E called Uncle Attah”.
Kofi Asamoah called back on the show after Kaakyire Kwame Appiah’s explanation accusing censorship board of not being fair to him because he believes ‘Who Killed Uncle Attah?’ is a political movie, which should not have been approved. He also accused Kaakyire Kwame Appiah of paying bribe to the classification board to permit the movie, a claim Mr. Appiah denied.
“If the classification board really approved this movie then there is a serious issue there and some of us won’t be quiet about it unless Kaakyire paid something behind for the movie to be passed. The title ‘Who Killed Uncle Attah?’ is more political than the one I chose years ago.” Kofas alleged.
Kwamena Amoah, Secretary of censorship board explaining why Kofas’ ‘Oh Uncle Attah’ was banned but allowed Kaakyire Kwame Appiah’s ‘Who Killed Uncle Attah?’ movie disclosed that the board did not stop Kofi Asamoah’s movie because of the title but the content. Mr Amoah continued that the content of Kofas’ movie was not good for public consumption hence the decision to cease him from releasing it.