By Ernest Nutsugah
Accra, Aug. 25, GNA – With three decades of experience in the film and television industry, Mr George Bosompim, an award-winning documentary filmmaker, producer and director, traces the beginning of his journey to the Tema Parents Association School, where he first performed on stage.
Now a lecturer at the UniMAC Institute of Film and Television, Mr Bosompim said he grew up aspiring to become either a priest or a lawyer, driven by a passion for justice and social causes.
Today, he finds fulfilment in mentoring the next generation of media professionals.
“I am happy to be a teacher. I want to see my students go beyond just coming through school, so sometimes I look for jobs for them and take them on my productions as well.
“I tag my students along because that is how I was brought up. I am happy when they succeed,” he said in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA), highlighting aspects of his life and career.
Before joining UniMAC, Mr Bosompim worked with Gama Film Company for 15 years, writing, producing and directing television drama series, reality shows, documentaries, commercials, music videos and magazine programmes.
Beyond teaching and filmmaking, he is a live event producer and has been instrumental in the production of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) Awards ceremony for the past decade.
Having gone through the ranks of the industry, the Oscars Committee member encouraged emerging creative talents to learn from experienced professionals, collaborate on projects and explore other aspects of filmmaking, including documentaries and animation.
“Film is not just feature films. We should be looking at all the other aspects of filmmaking and not get fixated on fiction,” he said.
“Collaboration and apprenticeship are very important. Somebody should take care of pre-production, somebody should handle the script, production and post-production. You cannot do it all alone.”
Mr Bosompim recalled his first television appearance in the series Poco Darling in July 1990 on Ghana Television (GTV), after which he featured in other drama and television productions.
During his National Service, he joined a drama group that staged performances at various locations in Tema, where he grew up.
The group, formed by Mr Kofi Dankwah, eventually earned the opportunity to perform on television.
“GBC gave us our first opportunity to be on television. At that time, there were other series already on TV. Nobody knew our group, but we told a compelling story with Poco Darling, which explored how older men influenced young girls with money,” he said.
Currently a board member of the National Film Authority, Mr Bosompim attended Abuakwa State College in the Eastern Region and St John’s School in Sekondi in the Western Region.
Throughout his school years, he developed a keen interest in the performing arts, pursuing drama, poetry and music whenever opportunities arose.
In 1995, he enrolled at the National Film and Television Institute (NAFTI) to sharpen his skills in acting, production, directing and scriptwriting, collaborating with senior colleagues and fellow students on campus productions.
“I did my first advert for Kasapreko in 1997 while studying at NAFTI. The people I worked with on that advert were all my lecturers. I was working with all my teachers at the time,” he said.
In 1998, Mr Bosompim secured a position with Gama Film Company after working with a colleague on the film Without Her Consent.
While at Gama Films, he was seconded to the marketing and advertising department of TV3, a move he initially accepted “half-heartedly.”
“I wasn’t happy. I really thought about leaving because that was not why I went there [Gama Films], but it eventually turned out to be a good move. I spent two years at TV3 and learned a great deal about marketing and advertising.
“I produced about 75 commercials while at TV3. It was an eye-opener because I learned diverse approaches to producing television commercials,” he said.
“Besides TV, I was involved in radio and print advertising and other activities that were outside my former role, which broadened my understanding of the advertising world.”
The former Production Manager at Gama Films produced several television series, including District Colonial Court, which aired on TV3 from 2005 to 2009.
In 2002, he produced the documentary Save a Million Lives, an HIV/AIDS awareness project that won the Best Documentary award at the Ghana Film Awards.
In 2005, Mr Bosompim applied for a ScriptNet United Kingdom bursary while volunteering for a scriptwriting training programme in Ghana.
He subsequently gained admission to Bournemouth University Media School, where he studied documentary filmmaking.
After graduating from Bournemouth University, he returned to Ghana and expanded his expertise in television production, working on reality shows and television series such as Hottest Host, Bands Alive and Chorkor Trotro on TV3.
The latter featured actor Funny Face as a driver’s mate.
“The Chorkor Trotro script was initially titled Accra Traffic. A colleague and I played around with the title and arrived at Chorkor Trotro. When everything was set, I gave Funny Face the role of the driver’s mate in the series,” he said.
“He [Funny Face] was eliminated from the show Hottest Host, so I told him he could be a better actor than a host. I said, ‘I have this script; we’ll find money and produce it.’ It was from there that we created Chorkor Trotro, which became a hit.”
Following the success of the project, the All That Glitters director produced two seasons of Bands Alive and later conceived Baba and Shoeshine, another popular television series that aired on TV3 from 2010 to 2013.
He has also worked with local and international production companies, including those involved in the production of the CBS reality show The Amazing Race.
The Vice President of the E.M.Y. Africa Awards Faculty urged local film producers to carefully study the rules and regulations governing international film awards before submitting entries.
“Some of our people finish a film before they read the regulations, or they do not read them at all. It does not work like that. We must be intentional about these things if we want to make progress,” he said.
Mr Bosompim contributed to the drafting of the Creative Arts Agency Act and its Legislative Instrument, as well as the review of Ghana’s cultural policy.
He is a mentor and Executive Producer of the web series Fresh Craft: Tales from the Blue Bus and serves as Convener of the Film Task Team of Ghana, which contributed to the operationalisation of the National Film Authority Act, 2016 (Act 935).
An Executive Member of the Ghana Culture Forum, he also serves as the Public Relations Officer of the Ghana Academy of Film and Television Arts (GAFTA).
He is married to Theresah Bosompim, and they have two daughters.
From 2021 to 2024, Mr Bosompim served as an Honorary Fellow and Co-Lead on the University of Exeter’s Imagining Futures research projects, including Salvaging Remnants of Ghana’s Osofo Dadzie Television Drama Series (2021–2022) and the Ghana’s Analogue Video Film Digitisation, Archiving and Repository Project.
GNA
Edited by Agnes Boye-Doe
Writer’s email: [email protected]