Accraventures of November: Premiere of "Sinking Sands"

Yet another Saturday night was spent at the theATAH this month. Only this time, I was attending the fancy premiere of "Sinking Sands" - the hottest new movie on the Ghanaian film scene. Please don't fact check that statement.

I found out about Sinking Sands from a billboard I happen to pass on my trotro ride to work. The film's professional-looking poster definitely stood out amidst the usual Ghanaian film posters that one finds crookedly shellacked against stone walls. I did a little google searching on the film and found out that Sinking Sands is the highest budget movie to have ever been produced in Ghana!

Interestingly enough, the producer/writer/director, Leila Djansi secured this $1 million (US) budget through fundraising and corporate sponsorship. Pretty darn impressive if you ask me... but not as impressive as the film itself! (hey-o! lazy segue...)

I have to admit, I had... expectations... walking into the theatre. I will not call them low expectations, because I have definitely enjoyed a few Ghanaian movies, particularly when they play on the STC buses on long journeys. However, the Ghanaian films I've seen follow in the tradition of "Nollywood" films (Nollywood is the booming film industry in Nigeria) which can sometimes be... well.. a bit silly. Oh... and loud. VERY VERY loud.

So, I walked into the National Theatre expecting to see a dramatic love story with the usual key ingredients: betrayal, cheating, shouting, some kind of witchcraft and a romantic scene where the two conflicting parties make up. However, I was shocked when I saw this:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R56dsmLOFsc

Sinking Sands has definitely "pull[ed] some firsts for the industry" as claimed in the film's program, just one item in our press bag of goodies! The film was shot on Red Camera Technology, one of the highest quality video cameras available today, and according to the program, "the first feature film in some years to go back to using set design [in Ghana]." The film also cast an American actor, Jimmy Jean Louis, in one of the main roles. The crew itself was also a mix of Ghanaians and foreigners.

But it wasn't just the technology that appealed to me, the whole movie carried a Hollywood aesthetic - from the intimate performances by the actors, to the soundtrack, to the cinematography. It was really impressive! And this is not to say that Ghanaian films that aren't modelled on a more Western, Hollywood style aren't impressive. Rather, what I find impressive is that this director was able to go outside the norm of her native industry and adopt an artistic style that's pretty darn hard to pull off without prior training!

Here is a synopsis of Sinking Sands from the program:

"Jimah and Pabi are a match made in heaven until an accident leaves Jimah with a scar that alters his physical appearance and turns him into a monster - figuratively"

Pause... I like that they clarified that Jimah turns in a "figurative" monster. Continue...

"Endless days of wife battery become a part of their relationship. Pabi has a chance to flee but her guilt makes her stay, hoping and praying that Jimah will change and life will go back to normal. Her fear of living alone without a family is a weakness Jimah knows she has and he makes every effort to capitalize on it. But how long will Pabi endure? At what cost will she buy her freedom?"

The synopsis doesn't sell the movie very effectively. So again, I walked in with... expectations. However, the narrative unfolded really nicely, the acting was believable and honest, we could empathize with the characters (even the figurative monster) and well, most importantly, the movie kept your interest. You really couldn't tell what was going to happen next.

Another thing that Djansi should be proud of is that she addressed taboo issues head on and didn't censor anything. In fact, one of the strangest things I have ever experience in Ghana happened while I was watching Sinking Sands. At one point in the film, there is a brutal rape scene - it was quite graphic and realistic. The audience reaction? roaring laughter!! And believe me, this wasn't uncomfortable or nervous laughter. This was like knee-slapping, belly-aching laughter. Needless to say, the eight of us foreigners in the crowd looked at each other completely dumbstruck by what was going on... and eventually the laughter became contagious.

Seeking an explanation from a Ghanaian, I asked a coworker about the reaction of this rape scene. She said that the laughter was likely due to the fact that sex is not really something Ghanaians talk about openly, so when it appears on the big screen, in front of a crowd, people get very embarrassed.

Okay, so maybe it was nervous laughter. But it really didn't appear that way!

My coworker tried to explain it a little bit more. If any of these people were watching the movie alone, they wouldn't laugh at the rape scene. But once you add a few more people to the mix, people start to get self-conscious and embarrassed about the presence of sex on screen.

"That's kind of like the reaction I had when I watched a few episodes of Sex and the City with my father."

Thankfully, I kept this analogy in my head.

So, once again, Ghanaian audiences have added some spice to the experience of watching a film or a play. All in all, the movie was great - a huge leap for the Ghanaian Film Industry. Not sure when the film's set to hit theatres or DVD but if it comes out before I return to Canada, I'll be sure to grab a copy.