The Sierra Leone Film Council Responds To Public Uproar

The Sierra Leone Film Council finally responds with a memo indicating that they executive, especially the chairperson 1 of the council had no fore knowledge about the publication by the Sierra Leone Entertainment Ambassador – Kao Denero, in which he indicated on his official Facebook Page that a film festival has been planned for the film industry.

This response was done after a lot of outcries by filmmakers across the country about the way and manner in which they have been kept in the dark by the leadership of the bodies especially the Sierra Leone Filmmakers – without information flow.

THIS IS THE PRESS RELEASE

”MEMO

FROM: SLFC
TO: Film Family
SUBJECT: RESPONSE TO LOOMING ISSUES ON POLICY AND FESTIVAL

It has come to the notice of the SLFC that some members of the film family are dissatisfied with issues on the subject matter, for which we would like to demystify accordingly.

Film Policy
The Film Council is the forerunner of the proposed policy and has worked assiduously with other film stakeholders and government functionaries to get us where we are to date. The concerted efforts have yielded so much dividends, which is why we need to tread cautiously.
We must not relent, and we will win this fight very soon. Those who are now lending their voices on the policy should continue to do so, as long as it’s respectful. We can’t fight the government; we can only advocate respectfully. They have the powers to thrash everything we’ve worked for, so let’s be patient as we have already won the fight.
The current trend of events has coincided with very positive outcomes, which the Guild and Council will communicate tomorrow, before close of business day. I am sure there will be parties and smiles all over the country – wherever we have film professionals and associates.

FESTIVAL
Let me get straight to the jugular. The wrong I see is the manner the information came out, period.
It should have come out from SLFC, instead of the Ent. Ambassador.
Two things you need to know:
1. We have representatives in the Entertainment Board by the persons of Daramy Kabba and Pst. Aiah Momoh respectively. They should have been the ones to give us updates, but we hardly heard from them. There were issues, but they have been resolved momentarily.
The discussions were on to include the film family on a 3days event, but there was no date and other discussions weren’t clear.

It was only 3 days ago, that they entertainment Board confirmed a date and Kao posted even before I was informed. That was his first success and little wonder that he was so excited. I’m not defending him.
However, upon getting the date and hearing the innuendos, we called an emergency meeting 3 days ago and it was well attended by guild representatives, including Daramay Kabba, Glamour, Muahid, Shero and few others. All issues were discussed and dealt with accordingly.

Nonetheless, we shall come up with a date not later than tomorrow for the Film Family to have a meeting so as to have further meaningful discussions on the aforementioned issues. Of course, we’re still mourning. Come Friday, Elijah will be laid to rest. May the blessed souls of our great colleague’s rest in perfect peace.
Finally, I want to emphatically throw my support on the current movement regarding the policy enactment. Collectiveness means progress.

Make no mistake, we will continue to have some of these glitches until the policy comes out.

Let’s continue to fight for what we want, but let’s stop preaching divisive messages and hate.

Thank you for reading this… You can contact me if u need further clarifications.

MICHAEL IBRAHIM KARGBO
CO-CHAIR 1, SLFC”

COMMENTS FROM FILMMAKERS

The post was followed by a barrage of comments from several key stakeholders across the film industry. Some showed appreciation but a good number continued demanding for the policy to be pushed forward.

ACKNOWLEDGING DARAMY A. KABBA’S UNHAPPINESS WITH THE ENTERTAINMENT BOARD

Michael Kargbo, the Sierra Leone Film Council Co-Chair 1 went on to acknowledge that Daramy A. Kabba, the chairperson of the Sierra Leone Film Guild was not happy about the entertainment board has been handling matters with him.  Michael openly promised to settle it.

WHAT WE HAVE OBSERVED

The memo was a great one and a lot of filmmakers appreciated it. It is the very best step that the Sierra Leone Film Council has taken and it shows great leadership and unity on one course. 

However, we have observed over time that the leadership of the Sierra Leone Film Industry has followed the ropes of the entertainment ambassador who is in the habit of releasing memos on social media without authentic stamp and signature. We believe the Sierra Leone Film Industry is a very big institution and therefore, the leadership should hold up to the standards.