Ama: A Voyage of Discovery (Director’s Cut 2023 At The BFI)
The Chosen One
on Saturday 16 September 2023 TheOrator.Press (TO.P) Attended A Special Screening of A New Directors Cut of The 1991 African Film ‘Ama: A Voyage of Discovery’ At The BFI (British Film Institute), Southbank, London. Originally Made In Association With Channel Four Funding It Was The First African Film To Be Made In Britain Back In The Early Ninties. The Special Screening, Just Before The Start of The British Film Festival (4-15 October 2023) Was Honoured By The Attendance of His Excellency Papa Owusu-Ankomah, Ghana’s Former High Commissioner Who Introduced The Film. And It Was Followed By A Q&A Session With Actor Georgina Ackerman And Director Kwesi Owusu, Hosted By Film Lecturer, #Imruh Bakari.
Twelve Year Old School Girl Ama Ababio (Georgina Ackerman) Is A Well-Adjusted, Pre-Pubescent, Happy Young Lady, Who Lives At Home With Her Black, Middle-Class, Ghanaian Parents And Her Older Brother, Joe, An Aspiring Boxer (Played By Richard Griffith, Who Currently Plays Mitch In Eastenders). Her Mother (Played By Ghanaian Actress Amina Misa) Is Mild-Mannered, Dutiful And Currently Reduced From Her Ususal Social Standing, To Office Cleaning Because Her Husband, Babs (Played By The Late Ghananian Actor & Opera Singer Thomas Baptiste), Notably Older That Her, Is Unwell. He Is Ailing With Pains Throughout His Whole Body (Especially His Feet, Which Daughter Ama Kindly Takes To Massaging For Him Ocassionally. And Excruciatingly!).
Her Gregarious Uncle Is Visiting And Her Mother Does Not Want Him To Know About The Newly Necessary Menial Work. So Before He Even Arrives She And Ama Enter The Realm of Secrets And Subterfuge. This Sets Something of An Undertone.
On A Family Day Out To A Stately Home In The Countryside Ama Is Drawn Deep Into The Greenary And Forestry of The Integral Woodlands, Beckoned By The Unprecedented, Intriguing, And Overwhelming Spiritual Call of Her Ancestoral Messengers. Within This Improptu Magical World Eventually She Finds A Small Strategically Hidden Package (Containing Some Peculiar Floppy Discs) Which She Investigates On A Computer As Soon As Possible When She Accompanies Her Mother To Her New (Secret) Cleaning Job At The Office.
The Clunky 1990s Computer (of Course Not Clunky or Dated At The Time But Cutting Edge Technology of The Era) Reveals That She Has Been Chosen To Diplomatically Deliver A Prophecy. It Decrees That Babs Must Return To His Homeland of Ghana In Order To avoid Certain Death And Joe Must Foregoe A Boxing Fight In Order To Avoid Being Paralyzed. A Heavy Burden Indeed For A Child of Just 12 Years Old.
The Intriuge Is Watching The Film Unfold As Ama And Different Members of Her Family Navigate Such A Powerful, Cultural, Magical (Yet Mortifiying And Terrifying) Phenomenon. At The Same Time They Are Also Dealing With Family Illness, Challenging Tradtional Patriarchial Roles, A Visting Larger Than Life Uncle – Who Brings His Own Tales of The Ancestors. And Libations. Plus An Also Visiting, Married, Snobby, But Environmentally Conscious, Older Sister.
And of Course, All Too Sadly, Tiresomely And Insufferably There Is The Ugly Shadow of Racism That The Black Community Repeatedly Have To Deal With As We Endeaour To Live Oridnary Lives. And Yes, Just Like All Others, Black Lives Do Matter. And Always Have Done. Including Those of Our Ancestors. Who Are Now In A Position To Watch Over Us!
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