Short Films by Akosua Adoma Owusu is currently streaming on The Criterion Channel. | Photo from Criterion Channel.
This month, the Criterion Channel is featuring a collection of short films by CalArts alum and Ghanaian American filmmaker Akosua Adoma Owusu (Art, Film/Video MFA 08). A Criterion Channel exclusive interview with the artist was also recently made available as part of the collection.
Among the number of films in the collection are several award-winning works, including her CalArts thesis film Me Broni Ba, Drexciya, Kwaku Ananse, and Reluctantly Queer. Described by the Criterion Channel as “playful, funny, and brilliantly subversive,” Owusu’s films are inspired by her identity as a Ghanaian American from which she examines sexuality, racism, postcolonialism, and white supremacy. The artist’s style blurs the boundaries between experimental, narrative, and documentary filmmaking.
Owusu’s films have been screened in many prestigious festivals around the world including International Film Festival Rotterdam, Locarno International Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and the BFI London Film Festival. Her work is part of the permanent collection of the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Centre Georges Pompidou and the Fowler Museum at UCLA. She currently divides her time between Ghana and New York, where she works as a Visiting Assistant Professor at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn.