Fred said the embassy gave approval for ten people to go for the festival at the last minute, so he had to call some of the winners who were ready to go under such short notice.
With respect to their preparation, he revealed that Luftanza Airline paid 70% of the plane fare while the stars paid the remaining 30%, and added that he booked hotel rooms for the Ghanaian stars for three days from 11th to 13th May, but as at the time they reached France, their stay in the hotel had elapsed, so the stars had to pay for their own hotel bill which he (Fred) promised to refund to them later.
He said he didn’t neglect Juliet but it was because she came to France with her younger sister and a friend so they had to stay in a hotel in another city, which was quite distant from where he and others lodged.
According to Fred who arrived in Ghana on Thursday May 19, they were not able to walk on the main red carpet on the opening day 11th May because they arrived in France on 13th May, but Majid Michel and Nadia Buari walked on the famous red carpet on another day.
Fred explained that it happened like that because the Ghanaian stars were divided; some were in Cannes whiles others were based in Leeds because one had to register. “You had to add an ID to your accreditation, and it looks like the rest didn’t add it, so we had the opportunity to walk on the red carpet. Even later on in the evening, we all went together, aside from Majid and Nadia. I went with Abdul Sallam, one Nigerian actress, among others”.
Asked what else the Ghanaians did, he said you needed a pass to have access to certain places, so they couldn’t enter certain places, but they had the opportunity to interact with some international film producers, French producers. They were interviewed by some international Television stations like CFI (Canal France International), France 24, TV3 Ghana, and others. “I was very happy when I heard that Nadia Buari went to meet Jude Law in Monaco, and my best experience was when Majid was trying to take a picture of Robert De Niro with Jude Law standing behind him and Jude Law stood, waved at Ghanaian actress Yvonne Okoro and interacted with her for some few minutes. It was like an African star meeting an American star. It was a nice experience”.
Fred said, those who left earlier to Ghana didn’t do so because they were facing any difficulties, but they had made some commitment back home to be on set so they had to go.
With respect to discrimination allegations made by Juliet Ibrahim, Fred said he doesn’t know where that is coming from because he does not have any favuorite among the group. “My mother or my father was not part of the group so why wouldl I discriminate against anybody. It is when people exaggerate and think otherwise. Why would someone discriminate? How many awards programmes have has been organized in Ghana? Who has been able to ever do this?
Responding to the issue of why there was no representative from the local language (Akan) movie sector on the trip, Fred said as at the time they had to go for the interview, Agya Koo was in America whiles Kyeiwaa was on location in Kumasi shooting.
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