Many know Barbara Newton as an actress but she has now taken up roles behind the camera and a film she wrote and directed, Players Wives: Alimony, will premiere at the Silverbird Cinema in Accra on Saturday, December 21.

The film is about two beautiful young ladies  trying to survive in a country going through economic hardship. They decide to go into prostitution but the cash does not flow as they  expect.  They decide to fall for and  marry rich men purely for the sake of money but will their exploitative  attitudes get them anywhere in their marriages?

Actors in Players Wives: Alimony include Prince David Osei, Ecow Smith-Asante, Doreen Kumantum,  Fanny Akaminko, Sefa Bonsu and Barbara Newton herself.

Barbara is a product of the School of Performing Arts, University of Ghana, Legon. She says she wrote the script for  Players Wives: Alimony while in her final year in 2006. She, however, only managed to shoot it last year and it is now ready for the public.

“I made the film to alert folks to watch out for the people they marry. It is not everyone who are interested in marrying for love. There are lots of people out there who just want to exploit partners for money. They don’t have a little bit of love in their hearts for their partners,” Barbara says.

“I didn’t grow up with both parents and I have always wanted to be an advocate for stable, loving marriages. I do not understand why people decide to make business out of marriage and then want to get out of it if they don’t make the envisaged amounts of money.

“Maybe my obsession to see  marriages work stems from my background of growing up with a single parent.  Whatever it is,  I admire marriages where true love exists between the partners and I’m happy with the way I have tried to tell the story about that in Players Wives: Alimony,” says Barbara.

She started off as an actress with the late Samuel Anson Manu’s Freelance Players. After school, she gained more experience on stage when she did National Service with Abibigromma.

Her movie acting experience include films done for several directors and producers such as Hacky Films, Akwetey Kanyi, Samuel Nyamekye, Agya Koo  and Albert ‘Daavi Oo Daavi’ Kudorvu.

Barbara decided to take up roles behind the camera because she wanted the freedom to tell stories from her own point of view.

“I enjoy acting but it involves interpreting a story through somebody’s point of view. I usually form strong opinions about issues and would want to tell them in my own films.”

Barbara, who lives in London and Accra, says Players Wives: Alimony would continue to show at the Silverbird till December 28 after the premiere.

 Credit: Graphic Showbiz