Written By: MIM!—Africa Academy-nominated writer/director Leila Djansi is pushing the envelope in her upcoming film Sinking Sands, which is slated to premier in Ghana on November 13, 2010 at the National Theater. The film staring Jimmy Jean-Louis and Ama K. Abebrese deals with the subject of abuse, but also contains nudity—an undoubtedly taboo issue in African film. Indeed, as Ghanian writers and directors continue to seek to distinguish their films from Nollywood films by including sex scenes in their movies, the frenzy around the polarizing subject of the portrayal of sex in African films only increases as noted in MIMI's Summer 2010 article, Cut! Censoring Sex In Ghanaian Movies. In anticipation of the premier of Sinking Sands, Leila released a press release sharing her views about how she handles sex in films. Read Leila's Q&A below.
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Q. Nudity and sex are new to movies that are filmed and distributed in Ghana. Why do you think both are new to movies in Ghana? What has taken Ghanaian filmmakers so long to incorporate it in their films?
Leila Djansi. Just like Hollywood, it is a phase each industry has to pass through. Hollywood went through it with the Catholic Church and other elements driving them out of the East to what we now call Hollywood. Same way censorship boards in Ghana are getting drastic and same way it was in the early years of the American film industry, it is a phase ... a time to evolve. When I was growing up in my church, if you wear trousers you are a wayward girl. Today, female ministers preach in trousers. When I wrote the first script for GAMA, I was told the violence was too graphic; today you see movies with guns drawn in broad daylight in shopping malls. The only constant thing is change. That strong, strict Ghanaian culture is slowly growing lax with all the globalization.
Q. Nudity or sex in a film? Which would you prefer, and do you think they are both are the same?
Leila Djansi. Well either arouses sexual thoughts, desire and images; therefore, as an artist, in my opinion, they are same. It isn’t like your actors are really engaged in the act of copulation; they are selling the scene with the nudity and sexual gestures.
