We Don’t Support Ghanaian Movies – Yvonne Okoro

Ghanaian actress and film producer Yvonne Okoro has called on Ghanaians to give local films more support, saying many homegrown productions face unfair criticism while similar foreign movies receive praise.

Speaking to Kwame Dadzie on Joy FM’s Showbiz A-Z, the actress expressed concern about the attitude of some local audiences towards Ghanaian films, arguing that the lack of support makes it harder for producers to survive in the industry.

“We do not support our own. Everything Ghanaian, we see it as sub-standard. And when you say this, people get offended by it, but it’s the truth,” she said.

Okoro said some viewers were quick to question the quality of Ghanaian movies before watching them, even though they willingly watched films from Hollywood and Nigeria that they considered entertaining.

“Like, you do a movie, and people are like, will the movie be nice? You are watching horrible movies. I am sorry, some Hollywood movies are horrible. You watch it and clap.

“You are watching some of the YouTube videos from my people in Nigeria, and you think it’s fantastic. But then let it be a Ghanaian who does a horrible movie, and they will say we don’t know how to do good movies.

“It’s horrible. And when we do good movies, they will go like, ‘I didn’t know this was there oo.’ I have been marketing for how long now; you didn’t know this was there. They just won’t come and watch it,” she added.

Her comments come amid discussions about the challenges facing Ghana’s film industry, including audience support and the need to encourage local productions.

Okoro has built a career as both an actress and producer, featuring in films such as Contract, Potomanto, Rebecca, Ghana Must Go and Fix Us. She has also appeared in the Adams Apples film series.

As a producer, she worked on Contract and Ghana Must Go, giving her experience on both sides of filmmaking.

She recently starred in Agency for the Dead, directed by Ghanaian filmmaker Shirley Frimpong-Manso. The film is scheduled to hit Silverbird Cinemas on October 30, 2026.