Ghana - Apply for a Film and Video Distributors License

Advertisement

Procedure

Apply In-Person:

1. To Apply for a Film and Video Distributors License in Ghana, the applicant has to approach the National Film Authority office. contact link
2. Applicant must be obtained the application form from the NFA office.
3. The applicant has to make sure that he or she has all the required documents that are required for this process to be successful and they can be found under the "Required Documents" section of this page.
4. Payment of appropriate fees should be made and that can be found under the "Fees" section of this page.
5. The applicant fills a registration form that requires name of the company or proprietor, address, estimated population to be served and health and safety standards undertaken.
6. Every application for a filming licence shall be made to the licensing officer in writing and shall be accompanied by a full description of the scenes in, and the full text of the spoken parts (if any) of, the entire film which is to be made, notwithstanding that part of the film is made or to be made outside Ghana.
7. If any title, sub-title, text, description, synopsis or other part of the film is in a language other than English, the licensing officer may require a translation thereof into English, certified to his satisfaction, or may submit then same for the examination and report of such persons as he may appoint for the purpose.
8. Provided that the licensing officer may in his discretion in any particular case accept an application notwithstanding that it is not accompanied by such description and text if he has been given such other information as he requires for the determination of the application.
9. On addition to the written application Purchase a set of forms from the Registration Unit of the Board at a cost of Ghs.10.000. Fill all the necessary part and attach all the necessary documents on the application. Please specify his/her contact details including the name of the party or parties (if the applicant is part of a consortium), address, phone number(s) and e -mail address (where possible).
10. Any application for video show or video library and cinema theatre must be accompanied by a letter of approval from the local chief or District Officer.
11. Only distributors registered and licensed by the Ghana Commission Board are allowed to apply for release certificate for video and films distribution for the purpose of commercial distribution within Ghana.
12. Each film submitted to the board is reviewed and placed into a classification rating-General exhibition (GE), Parental Guidance (PG), 16 and 18/A. Classification and rating are determined:
    • Amount and frequency of violence (crime)
    • Amount and frequency of sex, horror and nudity
    • Amount and frequency of drugs, tobacco, solvents and alcohol
    • Amount and frequency of profanity, religion and community
    • On violence and crime in films, the Board checks on excessive blood; dismembered or disfigured limbs and bodies; prolonged images of dead or seriously injured people explicit cruelty or violence towards human beings or animals; celebration or glorification of crimes.
    • On sex, obscenity and nudity, the Board rates nudity, exposure of fondling of female breasts, human or animal sexual organs and explicit images of sexual activities or pornography.
    • On horror and occult, rating takes in account films that glorify or encourage horror and occult; instill fear or revulsion about the consequences of not following such practices
    • Films that justify, Promote, encourage or glamorize use or misuse of drug related product, smoking, tobacco and alcohols are also classified.
13. Attach a Valid distribution agreement and other necessary documents on the Application form including the Valid Distribution agreement showing a brief plan the way to distribute the Films and Video.
14.  Before submitting his/her application forms attach copies of MOA. Show evidence of financial commitment to the agreement with the copyright owner over a particular product or movie titles. Before granting a film and Video distribution license, the licensing officer may require that any cinematographic film to be distributed is unsuitable for general exhibition, the Board put emphasis on the following forms of video distribution:
    • For adults only.
    • Unsuitable for children under the age of sixteen years.
    • Unsuitable for children under the age of ten years.
15. The National film authority office will check the application, if all the information and documents valid, the license is issued the applicant within 28 working days.

Advertisement

Required Documents

• The Application Form fully Completed (application form)
• Certificate of Incorporation, if a company.
• Certified true copy of memorandum & Articles of Association.
• Tax Clearance Certificate.
• Copies of MOA.
• Evidence of financial commitment to the agreement with the copyright owner.
• Valid distribution agreement
• A letter of approval from the local chief or District Officer.
• Other necessary documents

Office Locations & Contacts

National Film Authority
Address: National Film Authority,
Ministry of Tourism Arts and Culture
Contact number: +233 50 984 60223
Email id: [email protected]
Contact link
Website link

Eligibility

• Local producer and Exhibitors is eligible to applying for this license.

Fees

• Fees for this procedure is GHS 5.00

Validity

• A license is valid for a period of twelve months.

Documents to Use

Please attach documents that can be used by people. e.g. links

Sample Documents

Please attach sample completed documents that would help other people.

Processing Time

• The processing time for this procedure takes 14 to 28 days.

Related Videos

Videos explaining the procedure or to fill the applications.
Attach videos using the following tag <&video type='website'>video ID|width|height<&/video&> from external websites.
Please remove the '&' inside the tags during implementation.
Website = allocine, blip, dailymotion, facebook, gametrailers, googlevideo, html5, metacafe, myspace, revver,
sevenload, viddler, vimeo, youku, youtube
width = 560, height = 340, Video ID = Can be obtained from the URL of webpage where the video is displayed.
e.g In the following url 'http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0US7oR_t3M' Video ID is 'Y0US7oR_t3M'.

Instructions

• More information can be obtained via link

Required Information

• The Applicant’s name and contact details.
• If Organization, the name of the organization / Company.
• The Title of title, sub-title, text, description of the Film.
• Marketing strategy of the Film, distribution and exhibition outlets to the general public.
• Information on Monitoring of film exhibition and distribution outlets.
• Information on how to Sensitizing the exhibitors, distributors, broadcasters, general public and other stakeholders film/broadcast content consumption and regulation.
• Information on how to Monitor and control the distribution of unclassified and obscene films through the internet.

Need for the Document

• A person shall not exhibit or allow to be exhibited on any premises or platform a content to which persons are admitted on the payment of a fee or subscription or any other consideration unless that person has registered with the authority and has been issued with a license for the purpose.

Information which might help

• Requiring the purchase of a public performance license ensures that the artists and businesses are fairly compensated for the work that they own the rights to.

Other uses of the Document/Certificate

Please explain what are other uses of obtaining this document/certificate.
e.g. Birth Certificate can be used as proof of identity.

External Links

Place some external links which might help.

Others

More information which might help people.