Stitching together sequences of hair-braiding salons in Accra, voice-over of Oprah rhapsodizing brown-skinned dolls and an animated clip of signature hairstyles, Akosua Adoma Owusu ponders black beauty in a world where whiteness is the ideal.

Filmmaker Q&A

Introduce yourself:
The first baby born in Northern Virginia January 1, 1984, Akosua Adoma Owusu is from Ghana and the U.S. A multidisciplinary artist, she is an African American director trained in printmaking, sculpture, and film.  Owusu, who studied under prolific filmmakers, Kevin Everson & Betzy Bromberg completed her MFA at California Institute of the Arts in Fine Art and Film and Video in 2008.  She received her BA in Studio Art and Media Studies at the University of Virginia in 2005.  Her films and installations have exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art, Viennale, San Francisco International Film Festival, Visions du Reel, AFI Silver Docs, Athens International Film Festival. Atlanta Film Festival, Anthology Film Archives, LA Freewaves, RedCat, Detroit Docs, Festival des Cinémas Différents, FLEX, & MadCat Women’s International Film Festival, among other venues.  Akosua Adoma currently lives and works in Washington DC.  

What inspired this film?  How did you find your subjects?
From weaves to Jehri curls and dreads, the politics behind hairstyling comes from the roots of self-identification.  I am always interested in representations of beauty.  I wanted to use the specifics of hair as a metaphor for personal identity, culture, and language.  I was also interested in showing the creativity of African women and how this creativity is applied to the body.  Me Broni Ba (my white baby) was inspired by an event my older sister experienced when she immigrated to the States.  My father told me she touched the hair of white children in her elementary class.  The bold touch of the hair is what always stuck with me.  Like my sister, I find it difficult to integrate successfully into both Ghanaian and American cultures and it is often manifested in the way I style my hair.  The text in the film came from an excerpt in her childhood journal.  The film sort of stemmed from this.   

What are some of the biggest challenges/surprises? 
Funding this project was difficult.  I funded it mostly on my own.  I traveled to Ghana with a few rolls of film and tapes at a time.  The sound design was a challenge for me as well.  I worked with two sound designers on this project before I met my collaborator, Nathan Ruyle.   I have an archive of sounds and images and I always edit my film work silent before I work on sound design.  It was hard finding a person who understood my process of working.  

Who are some of your favorite filmmakers? 
I am inspired by a lot of African filmmakers.  I also enjoy the work of Ousmane Sembene, Dijbril Diop Mambety, Ayoka Chenzira, Agnes Varda, Chantal Akerman, & Chris Marker. Throw in a little Lee Daniels & Spike Lee in the mix.  I’m currently inspired by Apichatpong Waarsenthel and Sergei Dvotsevoy’s work as well.  

What is your all time favorite documentary? 
I don’t know about having an all time favorite.  I had the pleasure of watching Albert Mayseles’ Grey Gardens recently.  I also enjoy documentaries that stage and re-enact events.  What other projects are in the pipeline? I am currently working on an experimental narrative about a young albino African girl living in the slums of a Ghanaian village.   

Why did you become a filmmaker?
  Film and television are the primary sources of entertainment which we as a society have come to understand the world.  As a black female filmmaker, I often find myself outside of the discourse of filmmaking looking into a media industry that excludes black female voices.  Story telling is deeply embedded in my Ghanaian background.  I guess I want to insert myself in the tradition of African storytelling through the cinematic medium.   

What are some of your creative influences? 
I also collect an archive of sources that I often weave in my films to excavate and organize visual texts of cultural ethnicity and historical issues, which I then filter through my subjectivity. I am formed by at least two cultures:  Ghana as homeland and living in the United States in an immigrant family.  I think of myself as a walking contradiction and make use of my cultural hybridity in my films.  I also move back and forth between similar cultural activities in West Africa and North America, ever aware of my constant insider/outsider status.  My films are documentation of my process.  They are also personal and concerned with individual empowerment and self-liberation.   

Did you go to film school?
I am a disciple of prolific filmmaker, Kevin Everson (Cinnamon) at the University of Virginia where I participated in the Distinguished Major’s in Art Program.  I also studied film there as a Media Studies major.  I was mentored under veteran experimental film artist Betzy Bromberg (A Darkness Swallowed) of CalArts Film/Video School.  Through Betzy, I learned the magic of juxtaposition.  

What do you shoot on? 
I shoot mostly on 16 mm film with a Pallaird Bolex camera.  I treat small miniDV cameras like notebooks – collecting images, sounds, and information.  I really just use anything that is available to me to get the job done.  

What has been the most unexpected thing to happen since taking the film on the festival circuit?
I have a Fine Arts background in printmaking & object-making.  Traveling with my film to festivals and having it well received by all sorts of people is rewarding to me.   Women of many backgrounds approach me after screenings and share stories about their similar experiences with hair or traveling.  I never thought Me Broni Ba would cross so many boundaries.   

Why did you want to screen your film at SILVERDOCS? 
I relocated to Washington DC after graduating film school in California last year.  My parents live in Northern Virginia.  I wanted to show my film in my hometown.  I am excited about the opportunity to have my film premiere at a prestigious documentary festival near where I grew up.