User talk:George Bernard Amponsah

George Bernard Amponsah
George Amponsah is a critically acclaimed film and video director who in 2008 produced and directed the feature length documentary The Fighting Spirit - a story about 3 young boxers, 2 men and a woman who fight their way out of an impoverished shantytown in Ghana to the rings of New York and London for the biggest prizes in the business.

The Fighting Spirit was produced with Guardian Films and funded by CBA DFID, Channel4 Brit Doc and ITVS. The Fighting Spirit was sold to European broadcaster –ARTE. More information about the film can be seen at www.thefightingspirit.net.

In 2004 George directed and produced 'The Importance of Being Elegant' about a bizarre cult of fashion lead by the flamboyant Congolese singer –Papa Wemba. The feature doc aired on BBC2 as a flagship instalment of the channel’s Storyville strand. The film took 2 years to complete and received widespread critical acclaim. It was short listed for 2005’s Grierson Award and won Best Documentary at The Zanzibar Film Festival.

Cosima Spender was a co-director and producer with George Amponsah on 'The Importance of Being Elegant'.

George has worked with a number of top-flight television production companies as a freelancer and can work as a director in a team or as a camera/director with experience of shooting on most professional formats.

George is a graduate of The UK’s prestigious National Film and Television School where he won a Post-Office Scholarship to attend the documentary directing course. He also has a Kodak award winning commercials show reel and has directed a number of corporate videos over the years.

George is a highly accomplished cameraperson who first started taking pictures in the early 90s as a professional photographer and Super 8mm enthusiast.

The Fighting Spirit
A Film by George Amponsah www.thefightingspirit.net

One town in Africa takes on the world...

Three boxers, two men and a woman from a tiny shantytown in Ghana fight their way to the glittering rings of New York and London for the biggest prizes in the business. A story of modern Africa and the dreams and ambitions of its young people, fighting for respect, for reward and for their home.

Synopsis There aren’t a lot of ways to leave Bukom. A poor village in Ghana, its main industry is fishing, with a paltry annual salary of $300. So its young people are fighting their way out-- literally.

Thanks to tenacious coaches who turn rough street fighters into money-churning professional boxers, the village has produced several champions including the legendary Azumah ‘Zoom Zoom’ Nelson, and is now looking for its next big winner.

Twenty-two year-old George 'Red Tiger' Ashie is excited to box overseas for the first time, but has girlfriend troubles back home. Known as the first lady of boxing,

Yarkor 'Chavez' Annan is using the memory of her cheating ex-boyfriend to fuel her fire, but is struggling to win her first big fight.

Having already achieved international success, Joshua 'The Hitter'Clottey is training for the world Welterweight title, with the help of ‘connected’ manager Vinnie Scolpino.

A truly inspirational tale from Africa about those who are fighting for their dreams.

The Importance of Being Elegant
The Importance of Being Elegant A film by George Amponsah and Cosima Spender

On February 17th 2003 Papa Wemba, a world-famous African musician and fashion cult leader was arrested by French police for smuggling illegal immigrants into Europe. He pleaded guilty.

Set to the soundtrack of Papa Wemba’s extraordinary music, this eye-opening, funny, and moving film depicts the underground world of a flamboyant African cult. From his release from prison on bail, the film follows a few months in the life of the charismatic and controversial leader, Papa Wemba, through the recording of a new album and as he prepares for what many believe will be his last big concert…

Papa Wemba’s arrest sent shock waves through the Congolese community in Europe, particularly for members of his huge fanatical following -the fashion cult group La SAPE (Le Société des Ambianceurs et des Personnes Elegantes). Back in Congo in the 1970s Papa Wemba declared himself as La SAPE’S spiritual father and with his music as a platform, urged it’s members, known as sapeurs, to elevate designer fashion the to the status of a genuine religion. This cult of ‘elegance’ still persists today, in total seriousness, amongst Congolese at home and abroad.

In the eyes of the sapeurs to become a ‘Parisien’ is everything –to dress even better than their dowdy European colonisers and to show the folks back in Africa that they have ‘made it’. If Papa Wemba is the sapeurs’ high priest, then Versace and Cavalli are their Gods and so Paris, the fashion capital of the world, is their vatican.

In effect Papa Wemba has inspired a generation of Congolese who compete for status by wearing the type of ultra-expensive and flashy designer clothing normally reserved for the likes of Puff Daddy, David Beckham or Elton John.

For many sapeurs the desire to dress like a superstar celebrity is as much a motivation for coming to Europe as the need to escape the corruption and violence of the Congo –but as one contributor in the film points out, the types of job normally available to an African immigrant in France are that of security guard or dishwasher-not the kind of job that makes possible the purchase of a £5000 jacket by Roberto Cavalli.. So the sapeurs must find ‘other means’ of affording the desired items. For them clothing is the essence of identity. Nothing is more important. ‘Being’, therefore, is to be elegant.

The Importance of Being Elegant explores the dynamic between Papa Wemba, his many groupies, and his entourage who willingly pay him large sums of money to be ‘confirmed’, or have their name sung, in his new songs. The film also follows the progress of two sapeurs in Europe. Both are men whose lives are defined by Papa Wemba -the catalyst for their decision to come to Europe. Their contrasting views on their leader and life in Europe highlights the thin line that separates Wemba’s most devoted disciples from his fiercest critics, who have come to believe that ‘The Big Chief’ is ultimately self-serving- an arch manipulator, who claims to have found Jesus whilst in his prison cell, but who is truly only motivated by money and power.

The crowning achievement of The Importance of Being Elegant is that it opens a door to a subterranean world which is far removed from picture postcard views of Paris and Brussels- It is a clandestine world existing on the margins of the law; populated by people in search of a desired identity amidst the hostile reality of modern Europe.. Finally we get to see the sapeurs as they really are; people who wear a strangely familiar human mask –whose very essence is to be seen and admired and whose every instinct for survival is to remain secret and hidden.