Actress Gloria Sarfo has registered her profound worry over the absence of filmmakers during the 2024 Africa Cinema Summit (ACS) organised by the National Film Authority (NFA).

"It’s really disheartening to realise that most of our industry players were not here," she said, speaking to TV3 during the October 7 to 10 programme at the Movenpick Ambassador Hotel, Accra.

"You remember yesterday when Kunle was talking, and he was asking, 'Where are your movie producers? Where are the actors?' And it was so embarrassing that there was silence in the entire auditorium."

While the movie star allowed, "it’s possible that most of them may be filming, maybe on set at the moment," she emphasised: "But trust me, we could have also made some time for this, for the industry."

Gloria Sarfo was particularly worried about the absence of key filmmakers at the 4-day programme because, among other things, attendees "really learnt a lot. Like I said, it’s all about Africa, projecting our local languages and also our cinema markets".

The second edition of the ASC drew bigwigs of the film value chain from all over Africa and the diaspora, the focus being on encouraging local content and promoting collaboration, innovation and sustainable growth.

British movie superstar of Ghanaian descent Idris Elba headlined the day-one of the ASC. 

A special guest, the Ga Mantse King Tackie Teiko Tsuru II called on the government of 2025 to champion a film covering the life and legacy of the iconic African boxer Azumah Nelson of Ghana. He said such efforts would highlight prominent and worthy Ghanaian figures, project local culture and inspire patriotism. 

The NFA organised the 2024 Africa Cinema Summit in partnership with Filmhouse Group (Nigeria), Silverbird Cinema (Ghana), Cinema Exhibitors Association of Nigeria, Century CineMax (Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda) and Canal Olympia.