The hazy legacy of European colonialism in Africa is addressed in this film through images of women engaged in plaiting on old dolls from the West. This poetic portrait of hairdressing salons in Kumasi, Ghana, reveals the true meaning of the affectionate expression me broni ba (“my white baby”) as the body is presented as the place where political meanings associated with the notions of race and gender are –sometimes painfully– inscribed.
Awards and festivals
Best Documentary - Chicago Underground
Best Documentary - Athens Video and Cinema Festival
Special Mention - Real Life Documentary Festival 2010
Cannes, Cinema des Monde
NY African Film Festival
London Film Festival
Visions du Réel, sección official
Festival de Rotterdam
DOK Leipzig
Akosua Adoma Owusu (1984) has Ghanaian parents and is a Virginia born filmmaker and artist. Inspired by her bi-national identity and West African griot folklore, she creates personal film essays to insert herself in the tradition of African storytelling. At the age of 26, she's being noted as one of Ghana’s fresh filmmakers representing contemporary African culture. Owusu lives and works in Accra, Ghana and the US.