Movies - March 7, 1989

An English-language movie has won the grand prize in the Pan African Film Festival for the first time in the event’s 20-year history. Previous winners have been in African languages or French. The film, “Heritage of Africa,” recounts the story of a Ghanaian civil servant who loses his cultural bearings while moving up in the administrative system set in place in Ghana by the British. The film maker, Ghanaian Kwah Ansah, said he will use the prize money--about $13,000--to pay bills incurred in making the film, and added that it would be his last. “It is about time African governments saw the importance of film making and try to help film makers.”