Leila Djansi Calls Out NFA's Donation Appeal: Ghana Needs Investment Strategy, Not Charity

Ghanaian-American filmmaker Leila Djansi has launched a sharp critique of the National Film Authority's recent fundraising appeal, arguing that asking the public to donate to the Ghana Film Fund represents a fundamental misunderstanding of how a sustainable creative industry should operate. In a strongly-worded Facebook post, Djansi questioned why the NFA would seek public contributions when government allocations exist, and more importantly, when the foundational structures needed to make the film sector commercially viable remain absent.

"A Film Fund should be an investment that generates more investment, not a charity that begs for donations," Djansi stated, highlighting what she sees as a critical flaw in the NFA's approach to rebuilding Ghana's once-vibrant film industry. Her intervention reflects growing frustration among creative industry stakeholders about the direction of public film policy and the lack of clear, evidence-based strategy to restore the sector's commercial viability.

The Core Problem: Missing Infrastructure Before Fundraising

Djansi's primary objection centres on the sequence of decisions. Rather than seek donations, she argues, authorities should first establish the operational structures that would allow films produced in Ghana to generate revenue sustainably. Without distribution networks, sustainable platforms, and clear commercial models, she contends, a film fund becomes merely a subsidy programme with no path to self-sufficiency.

She pointedly questioned what systems are currently in place to ensure that publicly-funded films actually generate income. This reflects a broader concern within Ghana's creative sector: that past investments in film production have failed to create lasting economic returns because the underlying industry infrastructure was weak or absent.

Djansi also firmly rejected the notion that YouTube could serve as Ghana's long-term answer. "YouTube is a platform. It is not an industry. It will not replenish a government film fund," she wrote, emphasising that confusing a distribution channel with a sustainable business model has partly contributed to Ghana's film industry struggles.

Why It Matters for Ghana: Finding a Ghanaian Path, Not a Nigerian Copy

Djansi's intervention is particularly significant because it challenges the dominant assumption within Ghana's film policy circles: that the country should model its industry recovery on Nigeria's Nollywood success. She argues this approach is fundamentally flawed because Ghana and Nigeria operate in entirely different market contexts.

Nigeria's Nollywood dominance rests on a massive domestic population, an extensive celebrity ecosystem, established regional distribution networks, and a pan-African audience that consumes Nigerian content across multiple platforms. Ghana, by contrast, has a much smaller domestic market and cannot replicate Nigeria's scale or reach through the same YouTube-driven model. "Copying Nigeria contributed to the collapse of Ghana's industry years ago," Djansi noted. "Doing it again will not produce a different result."

Instead, Djansi proposes a fundamentally different strategy: using the Film Fund to attract international film and television productions to Ghana through competitive tax incentive schemes. She points to examples from the United States, where Georgia offers a 35 per cent tax credit for qualifying productions and New Jersey provides 40 per cent, both successfully attracting high-budget productions that spend millions locally.

When international productions film in Ghana, the economic multiplier effects are substantial. Money flows to hotels, transport providers, catering companies, construction firms, equipment rental services, location owners and local crew members. This economic activity generates government revenue through taxes and services, which can then be reinvested into the Film Fund itself, creating genuine growth rather than a perpetual cycle of fundraising appeals.

Building a Sustainable Model for Ghana's Creative Economy

Djansi's proposals reflect her consistent position on Ghana's film sector, articulated in previous interviews and opinion pieces. She has repeatedly argued that government must "fix foundations before funding Ghana's film industry," insisting that proper structures, viable distribution systems, and clear commercial models must exist before substantial public investment is committed.

Her intervention carries weight given her track record as an award-winning filmmaker with international recognition. Her critique suggests that policymakers must move beyond donor appeals and short-term funding cycles toward building a systematic, self-sustaining industry model calibrated to Ghana's specific market realities, audience demographics and economic strengths.

As Ghana continues to position itself as a creative hub within West Africa, the tension between aspirational growth strategies and the practical requirements of industry sustainability remains unresolved. Djansi's argument—that proper foundations must precede major investment—represents a call for strategic clarity that many in the sector appear to share.