The 30th edition of  the New York African Film Festival (NYAFF) is in progress and one of the highlights of the event this year is the world premiere on Friday, May 26, of the restored/Director’s Cut of the 1991 Ama film directed by Kwate Nee-Owoo and Kwesi Owusu. 

The NYAFF is the biggest African Film Festival on the East Coast of the United States and is co-hosted with the Film Society of the Lincoln Centre. The NYAFF also has a strong collaboration with the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM).

Kwate Nee-Owoo: Co-director

The original Ama film was shown at the NYAFF in 1994 to a favourable response. The festival organisers had regularly asked for updates on the film and were excited to know a new version was in the offing. It was immediately booked to be shown publicly for the first time at NYAFF 2023.

Written by Kwesi Owusu, Ama is about how a floppy disk becomes a prophetic device through which a young Ghanaian girl (played by Georgina Ackerman) living in England rediscovers her African identity and the eventual consequences for the rest of her family.

The film’s cast includes Anima Misa, Alexandra Duah, Evans Nii Omar Hunter, Georgina Ackerman, Thomas Baptiste, Eddie Tagoe, Roger Griffiths and the Adzido Pan African Dance Ensemble.

It was described by the famous Voice newspaper of London at the time of its release as “The first African film to be shot in London. It goes where no Black British film has ever gone.” The West Africa news magazine also referred to it as: “An arresting spectacle.”

Apart from the May 26 NYAFF screening, Ama will show again at the Brooklyn Academy of Music on May 29. Georgina Ackerman, who was a 12-year-old when the film was initially made 32 years ago, is expected to be in New York for the screenings.

Kwesi Owusu: Co-director

There are films from Senegal, Nigeria, South Africa, Mali, Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola and Tunisia as well as the African diaspora in Europe and the Americas in the programming at NYAFF 2023.

According to Ama’s directors, the British premiere of the film is scheduled for late August at the British Film Institute (BFI) Southbank in London. There are screenings also planned for venues in East and North London as well as Portobello in the Notting Hill district in West London.

“Portobello is where the London carnival happens and there will be a strong promotion of the film during this year’s carnival,” says Kwesi Owusu. “We’ll be working with Sugumugu Lord Eric who has a special corner at the carnival with his African drummers and also Dada Lamptey of Dade Krama Band fame. The buzz already being created around the film is quite heart-warming.” 

Meanwhile, a soundtrack album of the Ama film is in production. Music greatly lifted the original 1991 film and many started paying attention to the movie after hearing some of the material from the separately-released soundtrack album. 

Fast-rising Ghanaian singer, Naana Blu, has done a catchy Highlife rendition of the title song. Paulina Oduro who sang on some tracks on the original film, is available to contribute to the upcoming collection.

“The new soundtrack album does not necessarily have to contain only the tracks in the film. We have reached out to some of the young, imaginative beats makers and rappers in Ghana at the moment so we are looking at an interesting compilation of work from a variety of sources for both old and young,” Kwesi Owusu stated.   

The film’s directors say Ama will show in Ghana before the end of the year.