A movie aimed at enlightening the public on the causes of mental illness to demystify the stigma around it, premieres at the National Theatre today.
“Mad House” is a movie by Ola Michael and Frank Garbin.
Speaking to The Spectator, director of the movie, Ola Michael, said the setting was at the Accra Psychiatric Hospital with the movie highlighting how people knowingly or unknowingly acquired mental health related illnesses and ended up at the hospital.
It also throws light on the issues at some mental health facilities which cause patients to go back to the street.
Ola Michael revealed that the movie was a total comedy with mental health education to help bring some of their issues to the front, burner.
According to him, the movie featured the likes of Ekow Smith, Big Akwes, Akroboto, Kofi Adjorlolo, Yaw Dabo, Jessica Williams, Jagga Pee, Bismark De Joke, Lawyer Nti, and General Ntatia among many others.
Talking about the challenges, he said it was all fun with both patients and health workers when shooting, however, he indicated that securing the permission to use the hospital was a difficult task.
Commenting on the current state of the movie industry, he said, it was gradually picking up, with many people showing interest in watching movies at the cinema, coupled with calls from Ghanaians in the Diaspora for local movies.
Ola Michael said, after this, there would be other premieres at the Watch and Dine Cinema in Kumasi and the Centre for National culture at Koforidua on June 22 and 23, respectively.
He added that there were movies like XXX, Captain Mahama, among others which would be released later in the year.
By Edem Mensah-Tsotorme
