Profile Feature: An interview with film director, Helel Smith

Helel Smith is animated and a bit ruffled when we meet; it’s a humid Saturday evening in Ghana and he’s wearing a brightly coloured vest. His kept dreadlocked hair is rebelling slightly, giving him an air of a vigorous artist catching a break from canvas. Apt, considering the emerging film director’s currently in the midst of post-production of his latest film, ‘African Coup’. Helel is on an ambitious mission with his new title, a political satire covering one of the lesser-known Ghanaian Coup de' Tats.

Settling down to discuss Helel’s moviemaking endeavours, it becomes clear Helel is planning to shake up a thing or two within African cinema: “The main reasons why Ghanaian cinema isn't really where it's at is because most Ghanaian films suck,” he says in between bouts of bellowing laughs, “and we don't have a movie-going culture.” A punchy indictment from the homegrown talent, though one born out of a passion to take it to new heights; a springboard to change and challenge it from within.

Helel looks outwardly, “There's one movie theatre here in Accra. Sure in Nigeria they have two or three cinema chains. But it doesn't cater to lower-income society.”

“In Ghana, we have so many interesting stories within our folklore!”, he exclaims energetically. “I don't understand why people aren't tapping into these things. We have this dude who is basically Ghana's Merlin.” We share a laugh and Helel clarifies that the fabled character within their lore is, in fact, Okonfo Anokye.

Helel’s propulsion into film, began at an early age. He cites Shakespeare and amateur acting as a child and meets my eyes with a playful nod as if to say “Shakespeare: he’s one of yours”. The director is Ghanaian born and bred although wholly International; raised in Ghana, he went to college in the United States. There he befriended the ‘International kids’. Americans too, of course, he hastens to add - but the college was not famed for its diversity; Helel gestures to conjure up the landscape. After a few pauses and guffaws: “Upper-middle-class white Americana. Lacrosse.”

His first film as writer, titled ‘My Very Ghanaian Wedding’, was a pretty straightforward Romantic Comedy according to Helel, but very much a baptism of fire. “It was kind of like the first time you have sex - you don't know what you're doing, or where to put things, you're enjoying it and everyone feels a bit awkward afterwards.” Wit and ridicule are on a constant simmer within the director’s psyche but with a flick of a switch, he assimilates it into serious discussion.

‘My Very Ghanaian Wedding’ portrays the lives of a set of friends in a run-up to a wedding ceremony. While a Romantic Comedy in form, it tackles the powerful themes of social intolerance and the ‘cultural divide’ that still pervade the fabric of Ghanaian society. Specifically, the film depicts an unlikely and serendipitous romance between a Ghanaian man and a Spanish woman along with the backlash from traditional Ghanaian parents that ensues. “In more affluent circles, you won’t see much of that in Ghana” Helel says matter-of-factly, and explains how this fettered his own experiences at home: “My white French friend and I go into a club and we get talking to a group of women. Later in the evening, I ask my friend whether he’s made a move. He shrugs and states forlornly, 'for her, dating me would be a step down'.”

The Romantic Comedy was more of a stepping stone for Helel and he has loftier ambitions with ‘African Coup’. The film’s based on the 1967 failed take-over by dissident soldiers who sought to wrestle control away from the National Liberation Council, who had themselves overthrown the first Prime Minister of Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah. The coup was codenamed ‘Operation Guitar Boy’. “This film is something I wanted to do. I wanted to tell their [the dissidents] story.” Helel’s eye flicker animatedly, “There is nothing to remember them by.”

I ask Helel how he approached the production and he reveals his intriguing take on the narrative: “I’ve taken the coup and transplanted it into an office setting. It’s a personal story about the officers involved.”

On the question of how he fits himself politically into the narrative, he squares himself on his seat and gives me a poignant glance. “I don't have a political leaning. I have my own views. The film for me was being objective about the whole idea of leadership.”

We pause for a moment; it’s stiflingly hot in his apartment and Helel gets up to turn on a couple of fans that are dotted around his abode, quelling the agitation of the sultry African evening.

Politics, he points out, is a different beast in Africa and the attainment of power in the 1960s and 1970s was at times a bloody affair. “All you had to do it go on the radio and say 'we are taking over, we are in charge now.” Helel describes how the film’s satirical tone is borne out of the botched nature of the coup: “These guys, don't change shit”, he states sardonically, “They come to power, and it's the same as when Kwame came to power except it's organised and structured by the military which gives them a false sense of power.”

The film will portray a seminal moment in Ghanaian politics and with its release, Helel has his sights set on raising the bar of Ghanaian cinema which he feels needs elevating. “Films here are frequently poorly executed and poorly structured”, he laments, “the premises are often good, but we haven't yet cultivated the techniques to summon the themes and elements to answer ‘that central question’.” Something that Helel hopes to tackle with his latest title.

‘African Coup’ sets to be a dramatic tale flecked with humour and tragedy. A very African story but one, as Helel makes clear, inspired by the universal narratives of the individual, leadership, power and political struggle. The political status quo may repeat itself but Ghanaian cinema is set to be overthrown. The film is set for release early next year.