‘Ama: A Voyage of Discovery’, An African ‘Magical Realism’ Film. Black Panther: Wakander Forever & The Woman King, Subsequent ‘Afro-Futurist’ Films
We Asked The Academic Director How He Fells About New Afro-Centric Modern Movies Such As @The Woman King Movie & @Black Panther. Forward Thinking Though He Is, Dr. Owusu Has Mixed Feelings About The New Genre of ‘Afro-Futurist’ Films. Speaking Directly To TO.P He Expressed The Opinion That There Are In His Opinion More Special Effects Than Accurate Historical Facts. But He Respects Them Nonetheless. This Is An Interesting Perspective From An Academic Coming From A Different Genration of Film Making. And To Be Fair To Him We Have Had Another Professor Share This Same Perspective With Us.
Owusu Also Laments The Fact That The Depth of African Culture Has Been Diluted And Reduced To Being Represented By Many Europeans As Just Voodoo. He Defines Ama As An African ‘Magical Realism’ Film. The Magical Element Is That The Stories Often Feature Tales of The Inexpilcable And Fantastical. And The Realism Is That The Stories That Have Great Cultural Significance, Are At The Heart of Various Cultural Traditions, And Have Been Handed Down Over The Years. There Is A Scene Where A Female Elder Comforts Ama After An Upsetting Encounter And Cultural Practices Come Into Play. Suffice To Say Without Giving Too Much Away, As With Caribbean Culture, Eggs Symbolize Both Endings And New Beginnings.
When The Film Was Originally Made In 1991 It Was In Association With The Relatively New Channel 4 Which Was Groundbreaking At The Time Having Become Britain’s Fourth TV Channel In 1982. It Was Experimenting At The Time And Searching For New & Diverse Projects. It Provided Ama’s Production Team Substanital Funding (A Million Pounds) To Get The Film Made. Now It Regularly Produces It’s Own Films Under Film4 of Course.
Director Dr. Owusu’s Stroke of Genius Was To Make Sure His Contract Allowed Him To Retain The Copyright. And Having Been Made In Association With Channel 4 It Opened All Kinds of Doors For The Production Team In Terms of The Film Making Process And Access And Entry Into Film Festivals. Retaining The Film’s Copyright And Those Contacts Is Essentially How Kwesi Has Been Able To Promote The Film So Widely Again This Time Around, Includng At The New York African Film Festival @africanfilmfest, BAM (The Brooklyn Academy of Music), And The BFI (British Film Institute). It Broke Records When It Was Originally Shown Accra, After Having Been Shown In Cannes When It Was First Released. In 1991.
British Eccentric Singer Kate Bush Was Able To Enjoy A Similar Retro Revival After Her Song ‘Running Up That Hill’ Featured In The First Episode of the Fourth Series of Netflix Sci-Fi Horror Hit ‘Stranger Things’ Last Year. She Retained The Copyright To Her Songs Which She Worte And Produced. So Aged 63, Virtually Four Decades On Since Her 1985 Hounds of Love Album, On Which The Track Featured, Released On Then EMI Music Label, She Had Something of A Financial Windfall As The Track Topped The Apple iTunes Chart And Became Spotify’s Fourth Most Streamed Track. It Originally Reached No.3 In The UK Charts When Released Back Then. It Also Had A Revival Having Featured In The Opening Ceremony of The 2012 Olympics. In 2011 She Actually Released An Ablum Called Director’s Cut. Katebush.com
There Are A Number of Other ‘Ama’ Events Lined Up In London This Time Around, During Black Histoy Month:
Sunday 1 October, 3pm Free Screening, Rio Cinema, 197 Kingsland High Street, London E8 2PB. Reserve A Seat Via Eventbrite
Thursday 5 October, 6.30pm, Free Workshop, Hackney Archives, Dalston CLR James Library, Dalston Square E8 3BQ. Reserve A Place Via Eventbrite
Thursday 19 Ocotber, 6.30pm, Free Screening, West Norwood Picturehouse, 1-5 Norwood High Street, London SE 27 9JX. Book Via Eventbrite
Thursday 26 October, 6.30pm, Free Event, Imruh Bakari talks to Kwesi Owusu (Directors in Conversation), Brixton Tate Library, Brixton Oval London SW2 IJQ. Book via Eventbrite)
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