Thursday , March 28 2024

“Kofi Asamoah hijacked my film”, Tim Greene states.

Greene also divulged that he has reached out to Asamoah but yet to receive copyright payments from him.

The copyright ‘war’ between Ghanaian film director Kofi Asamoah and Johannesburg film director Tim Greene is not over as the latter drops more bombs on the whole issue.

In Tim’s latest interview with Channel 24, he said his film was stolen word for word.

The 2011 film “Skeem” has been duplicated by Kofi Asamoah, who renamed it “John & John” starring top Ghanaian and Nigerian actors including Pete Edochie from Nigeria, Ghanaian actors Liwin, Kalybos, Nana Ama Mcbrown, Joselyn Dumas, KSM, Ahuofe Patri, Bishop Bernard Nyarko, Selly Galley, Salma Mumin, John Dumelo, Abeiku Santana, Gracey Nortey, Grace Omaboe, Moesha Bodoung, Fella Makafui, Roselyn Ngissah, James Gardiner and Umar Krupp.

A few days after the premiere, Tim Greene’s attention was drawn to the copyright infringement. He claimed a Ghanaian journalist drew his attention and he was shocked.

he told Channel 24 that: “A Ghanaian journalist looked me up on Facebook to ask if I knew about the movie John & John. The director had been going around saying I had given permission for the ‘adaptation’. I hadn’t and, of course, it was a real surprise. Really, quite a huge surprise. Like, the most surprising single thing that’s happened to me.”

When asked to what extent his ideas had been stolen, Greene said: “I haven’t seen the whole thing, but extrapolating from the trailer, it’s a wholesale rip-off. The characters, the situation, events and – line for line – the dialogue.”

Greene admitted that there were a few things in the trailer he didn’t recognise, “but it’s basically a full jack”.

A film-maker usually gives their permission to have their film remade or adapted. When asked if he would have agreed, Greene told Channel 24: “es, without a doubt. In fact, we would have considered it a great honour. There is nothing more flattering than another film maker saying they like your work so much that they want to invest their own blood, sweat and tears into making their own version of it.

“I’m fascinated and endlessly entertained by the whole thing. And weirdly flattered. I mean, they did a bad thing, but no one died. Life goes on. Hopefully, it will all turn out well in the end. I like it that my little movie is having a surreal little afterlife,” Greene said.

Greene also divulged that he has reached out to Asamoah but yet to receive copyright payments from him.

“We’re engaged in conversations right now about making things right. We’re asking them to retroactively purchase the remake rights. They’ve agreed, but we haven’t received any payments yet,” he said.

Greene would rather not involve the law: “Hopefully, it won’t come to that. International litigation gets very expensive very quickly.”

source;pulse gh

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