The French Embassy is launching three projects at the National Film and Television Institute (NAFTI) to the tune of about €55,000. The projects which are the latest in a long history of collaboration with and support for the Institute includes the refurbishment of the film dubbing centre at NAFTI, the creation of a viewing centre for the school and an award of €20,000 to support NAFTI’s establishment of a Broadcast Journalism Programme.

The viewing centre, which will serve as a multimedia library, will provide students and faculty of NAFTI easy access to a wide variety of films from across the globe. A database of films will be created and stored on a server, which can be accessed on computers connected to the server thereby making it easy for faculty and students to search for and watch films of their choice during and outside lectures for research purposes.

According to Prof. Linus Abraham, Rector of NAFTI, “this is significant and important for building a repository of Ghanaian films. Ghana has to build up a database of its films to make all Ghanaian films especially those from the past accessible to all. NAFTI with the aid of the French has started doing this by creating a centralised network where a wide variety of films can be accessed on demand by its faculty for teaching purposes and its students for learning purposes”.

According to French Embassy officials, they are delighted to collaborate with NAFTI, as it is one of the major film training institutions in Africa. According to Ms. ValérieLesbros, Cultural Affairs and Higher Education Attachée of the French Embassy in Accra, the Embassy is getting together a collection of African Film Classics, which will be presented to the Institute to include in its database of films.

“This viewing centre will make it possible for NAFTI to have a multimedia library of a great number and a great variety of films to enhance its training programme”, said Ms. Lesbros.

The Media Arts Academy in Germany, to which NAFTI signed an affiliation, has also promised 500 Film Classics from Germany, Russia, France, Great Britain and the United States of America. Fifty of these films have already been donated to NAFTI.

In addition to establishing a viewing centre, the French are also aiding NAFTI with the establishment of its Broadcast Journalism Programme, which will be introduced next academic year. The French Embassy is bringing Canal France International (CFI) and Radio France International (RFI) to do the training for the new faculty. To this effect, the French have awarded a grant of €20,000 to the Institute for the purpose of training the new Broadcast Journalism Faculty.

In the past, the French funded the establishment of the film dubbing centre, the only one of its kind in Ghana, at NAFTI. This year, the Embassy has refurbished the dubbing centre with new equipment to the tune of about €15,000. The facility allows for the dubbing of films from one language to the other.

NAFTI’s relationship with the French has seen its students benefit immensely from workshops organised for the students with French film experts, which has gone a long way to enhance the academic work of the Institute. The French have also organised animation workshops and Environmental Film Festivals, in which NAFTI students have participated.

NAFTI will together with its sector Minister, Hon. John Tia Akologu, Minister of Information, officially inaugurate the French Embassy Projects at the Institute on Friday, November 25, 2011. A delegation from the French Embassy led by the Charges d’Affaires of the Embassy will be present at the ceremony.