me broni ba (my white baby)
Synopsis
me broni ba (my white baby) is a lyrical portrait of hair salons in Kumasi, Ghana. The tangled legacy of European colonialism is evoked through images of women practicing braiding on discarded white baby dolls from the West. The film unfolds through a series of vignettes set against a child’s story of migration from Ghana to the United States, revealing the meaning behind the Akan term of endearment me broni ba, or “my white baby.”
Ghana, United States
Languages: Akan & English
Cast & Crew
Director / Cinematographer : Akosua Adoma Owusu
Editor: Romulo Alejandro
Story by: Adwoa Adu-Gyamfi
Voice Over: Haizel Adofo
Boom Operator: Caroline Jin Key
Sound Design & Mix: Nathan Ruyle
Collections
• Whitney Museum of American Art
• Fowler Museum at UCLA
Awards & Recognition
• Best Documentary Film — Chicago Underground Film Festival
• 2nd Prize, Best Documentary Short — Athens International Film & Video Festival
• Silver Palm Award — Mexico Film Festival
• Special Mention — Real Life Festival
• Top Ten — Artforum, October 2010
Selected Screenings
• MoMA Documentary Fortnight (World Premiere)
• Visions du Réel (International Premiere)
• San Francisco International Film Festival
• AFI Silverdocs
• BFI London Film Festival
• DOK Leipzig
• International Film Festival Rotterdam
• New York African Film Festival
• Play-Doc Festival (Spain)
• Ambulante - Cine Las Americas International Film Festival
• 56th Robert Flaherty Film Seminar
• Cinema Camp (Lithuania)
• Centre Pompidou - Black Dolls: la collection Deborah Neff at La Maison Rouge
• Punto de Vista (Spain)
Purchase
• Me Broni Ba – Cinema Guild
Selected writing
• 24700 News from California Institute of the Arts
• Smithsonian National Museum of African Art
• Cascade Festival of African Films
• Cine internacional a la UANL
• Offscreen Magazine
• Black Film Center/Archive