Akosua Adoma Owusu Black Sunshine

Akosua Adoma Owusu

Akosua Adoma Owusu is an award-winning filmmaker of Ghanaian descent. She received an MFA from CalArts in 2008. One of ArtForum‘s Top Ten Artists, Owusu is informed by personal ethnography and cultural representation. She has exhibited worldwide, including at MoMA, The Studio Museum in Harlem, Rotterdam, Viennale and London Film Festival. Her film, Kwaku Ananse received the Africa Movie Academy Award for Best Short Film and was nominated for the Golden Bear prize at the Berlinale. The film was the first ever Ghana-Mexico-US co-production supported by Focus Features Africa First, Art Matters and the Sarah Jacobson Film Grant. Owusu’s Me Broni Ba (My White Baby) garnered critical acclaim and sparked dialogue at over 80 international film festivals; picking up a distribution deal from The Cinema Guild. Her short film, “Drexciya” was highly commended for its ‘radical nature’ and ‘poetic insight’ securing her the Best Experimental Film Award at the Guanajuato International Film Festival in Mexico. She was a featured artist at the Robert Flaherty Film Seminar in 2010. She also received the Africa First award sponsored by Focus Features. Her first feature in development, ‘Black Sunshine’ was nominated for the TFI’s Heineken Affinity award and participated in Locarno’s Open Doors in 2012. 

www.akosuaadoma.com, www.mebroniba.com,


Awards & Accomplishments

  • 2013

    Festival

    Owusu’s short film Kwaku Ananse participates in French Academy Golden Nights Panorama program at UNESCO in Paris

  • 2013

    Award

    Akosua Adoma Owusu wins Africa Movie Academy Award for her short film, Kwaku Ananse

  • 2013

    Award

    Owusu’s film Split Ends, I Feel Wonderful receives the Tom Berman Award for Most Promising Filmmaker at the Ann Arbor Film Festival

  • 2013

    Award

    Owusu’s film, Kwaku Ananse, is nominated for the Africa Movie Academy Award for Best Short Film

  • 2013

    Festival

    Owusu’s short film, SPLIT ENDS, I FEEL WONDERFUL screens at Ann Arbor Film Festival in Ann Arbor, MI

  • 2013

    Publication

    The Huffington Post lists Akosua Adoma Owusu as one of 30 Contemporary Artists under 40

  • 2013

    Festival

    CinemAfrica Film Festival in Stockholm, Sweden screens a retrospective of Owusu’s short films

  • 2013

    Award

    Owusu’s feature and Creative Capital project, BLACK SUNSHINE is being nominated for the first ever Tribeca Film Institute Heineken Affinity Award for African American filmmakers.

  • 2013

    Festival

    Owusu will have the world premiere of her film Kwaku Ananse in competition for the Golden Bear prize at the Berlinale, Berlin International Film Festival

  • 2012

    Award

    Owusu is awarded a travel grant for her film, KWAKU ANANSE from Art Matters

  • 2012

    Major Exhibition

    Union Docs presents a retrospective of short films and Influences with Akosua Adoma Owusu

  • 2012

    Major Exhibition

    Owusu is included in The Studio Museum in Harlem’s group exhibtion, Fore.

  • 2012

    Haus der Kulturen der Welt

    Owusu’s work, DREXCIYA, screens in the Rencontres Internationales program at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt in Berlin

  • 2012

    Festival

    Owusu’s feature film, BLACK SUNSHINE, is selected in Locarno Film Festival’s Open Doors co-production mart

  • 2012

    Internationale Kurzfilmtage Oberhausen

    Owusu’s film, SPLIT ENDS, I FEEL WONDERFUL, is included in the International Competition of the 58th International Short Film Festival Oberhausen

  • 2012

    Images Film Festival

    Owusu’s short, SPLIT ENDS, I FEEL WONDERFUL, screens as part of the Images Film Festival’s 25th Anniversary in Canada

  • 2012

    Award

    Owusu receives 2012 Sarah Jacobson Film Grant for her short film, KWAKU ANANSE

  • 2012

    Studio Museum Exhibition

    Owusu’s short film, SPLIT ENDS, I FEEL WONDERFUL, premieres in The Bearden Project at the Studio Museum in Harlem

  • 2012

    Toronto International Film Festival

    Owusu’s film, DREXCIYA, is included in the Toronto International Film Festival’s African Shorts program

  • 2012

    Commission

    Owusu wins Focus Features Africa First commission, which supports emerging African filmmakers making short films

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