Mini-INPUT - Ghana

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The 8th Accra mini INPUT took place from the 25th to the 28th of February, 2008 at the NAFTI students Hostel in Accra, Ghana. italic boldThe 4 day conference showcased 18 of the best programs that were screened at Lugano in May of the previous year. As is the practice, 2 other television professionals were invited from SABC to INPUT into the conference both as shops and panelists.The conference attracted a large audience that ranged mostly from film students, television professionals to ordinary people whose interest in television drove them to take seats in the auditorium and contribute fully to the discussion that followed each screening. The “Keep it short and simple: (KISS)” session which showcased 4 programs was the first of the 6 sessions that made up the entire 4 day conference. The other sessions comprised of “Does high budget always reflect content? “A burden or a duty? “Reality television indeed”, “Archiving the truth” and “Testimonies”. On the final day, a panel discussion was held under the theme:”Are we creating another Frankenstein called Reality Television?” Angelita Mills and Jacqueline Rainers, both commissioning editors at SABC and Vitus Nanbingne, a former lecturer at National Film and Television Institute- Accra, were the panelist who facilitated the session. The presentations were insightful and animated and the quality of the conversation that followed was engaging. There were moments when the discussion risked being derailed by the mere scope that it threatened to encompass but more importantly, the issues that this session raised span the creature called reality television and its distinguishable features, to the risks that are associated with the format for the program maker (such as interactivity and the existence of other platforms).

Averagely, about 40 people were present on each day, most of them film and television students from our local film and television school where the screenings take place. Other television professionals from industry walked in and out when their schedules permitted. This perennial problem of low attendance by the professionals continues to be one of the most important challenges that we have to confront considering that they are the principal audience of the conference. A special South Africa Session was held on the last day to enable our invited guests to raise interest and awareness about the Johannesburg 2008 INPUT conference. It was very well received and at the moment, enthusiasm is high. The real challenge is to sustain this interest that will hopefully result in actual attendance. For most of the participants, the icing on the cake was when we had to opportunity to screen and interact with the filmmaker whose film, “Not my Daughter”, goes into the record books as the first Ghanaian program to be listed in the main INPUT conference.