In February 2017, the School of Performing Arts (SPA) published on the UG website [School of Performing Arts at Africa’s Flagship Film Festival – FESPACO 2017 With Down Side Up | University of Ghana (ug.edu.gh)] the news of the selection of its short film for official competition in FESPACO 2017. One statement stood out, and it was there is prize money and a trophy to be won, and surely our sight is set on the ultimate.
The above is exactly what the SPA achieved at the 25th Edition of the Pan African Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou (FESPACO) 2017. The festival was held from 25th February 2017 to 4th March 2017. SPA’s short film Down Side Up won the best feature, student category award at the biennial. By this feat, the University of Ghana brand is flying high in Africa with this continental film award, the first of its kind by the School and the University at large.
The short film Down Side Up was in contention with sixteen (16) other short films in the School Films category. With strong contenders from the Francophone countries, most of whom have well established film schools, the competition could not have been any keener. Down Side Up was first screened to the public at the Institut Francais – Petite Salle in Ouagadougou on Sunday, 26 February, 2017. In full attendance to give support to the film was the delegation from SPA at FESPACO 2017. With the UG logo forming part of the opening credits of the film, the feeling was ecstatic when the film started to play on the big screen. At the end of the screening, the applause and cheers by the SPA contingent in the cinema was resounding. The film’s second screening was on Wednesday, 1 March, at CENASA where it enjoyed another rapturous applause. With the scheduled screenings completed, it was time for the jury to go to work on deciding which films merited the prestigious awards. Thus, on Saturday, 4th March, 2017 around 5.35pm, in the indoor arena of Palais du Sports in Ouagadougou, the film Down Side Up directed by Peter Owusu, and produced by the Department of Theatre Arts, was adjudged the BEST SHORT FEATURE FILM in the SCHOOL FILM CATEGORY.
It is instructive to know that the School of Performing Arts has been attending the biennial programme since 1999. Until 2011, cost of participation in the film festival was always funded entirely from students’ personal resources. In 2011 FESPACO was officially recognised as an educational field trip for students taking courses in RTVF and other media related courses in the Department of Theatre Arts. The 2017 edition of FESPACO was the first time that students’ films from the Department of Theatre Arts were entered for consideration in the official competition at FESPACO.
This award has come at a time that the Department is in the process of gradually rolling out new media arts courses. Surely, it is a confidence booster for both students and lecturers, that collectively, we are getting some things right. With the necessary support in the area of equipment acquisition and space, the Department could become the default media production partner of the Public Affairs Directorate of the University.
The media production sector is a very capital intensive area. Without the right orientation, one may wonder and question why a little piece of production gear such as a Canon EOS 5D Mark III DSLR camera should cost over Ghc10 000. But the ability and importance of the sector as a promoter of our values and culture through films and other related media content far exceeds any cost one may put on a piece of equipment. It therefore was with pride that the SPA representatives at the awards ceremony, festooned in their UG-branded T-Shirts and caps, cheered Peter Owusu when he was mentioned as the winner from UNIVERSITY OF GHANA.
It is the hope of the Department, lecturers of the course, and students that this award is the beginning of many awards to come from across the different specialisation areas in the School of Performing Arts. The target now is to conquer the world in the area of creative production and performing arts research. Knowing that there will always be prize money and a trophy to be won, surely our sight will always be set on the ultimate.
Written by Dr Samuel Benagr
May 2017
