God Gift Film Production on Saturday launched a new movie entitled “The King and the Prince 1&2, Helpless King 3& 4”, at the Joint Officers Mess in Kotu.
The movie, also directed and acted here in The Gambia, comprises Gambian, Nigerian and Sierra Leonean actors and actresses.
Speaking at the launching, Onyeka Okechuku, director and producer of the movie, said the film is the first-ever epic movie made in The Gambia and consists of African characters such as Gambians, Nigerians, Sierra Leoneans and others.
The film is all about the king and the prince, marital disagreement, trying to take over thrones and problems here and there of the world.
He said the movie is also about the orphan and the prince where the prince tries to marry an orphan but the king refuses to it and manipulates the process of getting the right heir apparent to the throne and presents it to his elders instead of the son - who insists on marrying the orphan – to become the king.
He said the film is special because its model has never been done in The Gambia before and it is a challenge to the actors and actresses in the country, because sometimes they feel what the Nigerians can do, they cannot.
But after acting the film, he explains, they realized that they are not different from what the Nigerians can do.
The message of the movie, he notes, is that one should not be greedy and people should eschew tribalism, especially as regards marriage.
He added that the film consists of 8 parts or episodes each of which is 55 minutes long.
The locations in the movie are Mandinary, Lamin and Joint Officers Mess, he said, adding that the film is all about tradition with typical and colourful costumes as it is an epic movie.The film is mainly English, he notes.
He said he was motivated to shoot the movie in The Gambia because of the passion he saw in the movie industry of the country and how the actors and actresses want to give out their best.
He has also seen the standards of many movies in the country, which is why he decided to shoot the movie in The Gambia.
Ousman Ndow, General Manager of Joint Officers Mess, said the hotel is a center of activity and upon sensing that the young actors want to add value to their talents and skills and be part of the global network and events of acting, he willingly allowed them to use the place, to build up their talent.
He said that although they generate income from Officer’s Mess, everything is not money and at times support should be given to people to build up their capacity, which is what motivated him to support them.
He said the Gambian Movie Industry is very young and needs support.
He also said what motivated him to join the movie is, “if you look at the Gambian context it is a little bit way back” and for people like him acting in the movie that would encourage others to come up.
He added: “If you look at the unemployment rate of The Gambia, it is very high and acting is part of the things people can hold up to for their future.”