Movies of Tuesday, 3 February 2015
Source: Florence Naa Oyoe Quartey | GhanaWeb
After many years of absence from the movie scene, veteran actress Juliet Asantewaa Asante is back to give Ghanaians what they have been missing from her over the years.
This will be through her movie she directed entitled ‘Silver Rain’ Starring Joselyn Dumas, Elikem ‘the tailor’ Kumodjie as well as actors and actresses from Sierra Leone, South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria.
She disclosed this when she appeared as a guest on ‘Hanging out with KOD’ on GhOne last Sunday, hosted by KOD.
According to the lead actress, the reason for different nationalities in her upcoming movie was because she believes in the Pan African movement. She believed it’s a good thing if Africans come together to produce a good movie just like how it’s done in the Western world.
“A movie produced in Hollywood can feature about 50 actors and actresses from different states so why can’t it be done in Africa”, she put it.
She also stated that the movie is about a ‘kayayo’ girl who decided to find love outside her street and class with shots taken in Ghana and South Africa.
The mother of one described the movie quality as impeccable and “the acting out of this world”.
On her background, the beautiful actress revealed she lived in Liberia for 10 years. She left right before the war broke in the country. She revealed an unfortunate incident that occurred to her at the age of 8 which was her inability to walk for no apparent reason.
This went on for two years after seeking medical help from everywhere possible. It was two and half years into that predicament that her parents were introduced to a Ghanaian herbalist in Liberia. He took her through some physical exercises and gave her some herbs which gradually got her cured.
In 1987, her parents sent her siblings and herself back to Ghana because according to her, her parents thought it was best they grew up there.
Also, Juliet who was a science student in secondary school switched to arts in form 5 because she realized she was good at it and performed better than the arts students.
“One fascinating thing is in 6th form I was the assistant girls’ prefect and head girls’ prefect at Anum Secondary School and Okuapeman secondary School respectively because of my quiet nature”. She said she performed her duties diligently.
With two degrees from the University of Cape Coast due to her business oriented nature and to NAFTI for the love of arts, Juliet proceeded to have her Masters’ in performing arts at the Havard Kennedy School of Government in USA.
Juliet who stated her genres of music are rock, country, jazz and pop, said there is the need for people to appreciate the efforts artistes put in their works and not disassociate them from education.
“Even though people disassociate arts from education, it’s one of the most difficult things and it should be appreciated because artistes are really doing their best and they have an amount of education too”, she stressed.
She disclosed that watching music videos are her hobbies and they calm her nerves. “That’s all I watch. Music videos and news channels. At the end of the day, it’s one of the things that relaxes me”, she said.
She also cited cheese as a weakness and would hit the gym after that which brought to light her ‘perfectionist’ nature. She cited an example where she gave the cast of her movie a tough time just to get the right shot or scene.
Juliet revealed that most of the people she worked with could testify she was irritating but at the end of the day everything was done how she had envisioned it to be and they moved on.
“I know I’m pretty annoying. I can’t stop and I know who I am. I’m a little bit of a perfectionist. I know what I want and do not waste time”.
She said she gets to know who she is on a daily basis since she is a ‘student’ of life. The reason being that, certain challenges and experiences have made her who she is and is more grateful for life after the fatal accident she had sometime back.
Touching on feminism, Juliet Asante made it known she is not the type of person who buys into many (named) things. She has things she is passionate about and believes that “as an individual you should explore who you are and strive to be the best to your ability as a woman and forget about stereotyped issues”.
She described herself as a woman who has certain talents and likes to explore as a member of an equal society to make sure everything is better for her and her daughter.
Juliet Asante ended the interview with a promise that those who will watch the premiere of ‘Silver Rain’ will have a good time.
“They will enter the theatre, have fun and when the movie has ended, they will come out, purchase another ticket and watch it again”, she concluded.
Watch the trailer of ‘Silver Rain’ below: