AKWAABA

The film wordlessly explores the experience of coming home to a place that you have never been. Straddling the worlds of being Black, British, Ghanaian, Italian, a son, a brother, an artist, a human, Samuel effortlessly creates a sense of nostalgia for memories that are yet to be encountered through a journey of self-exploration. Mostly shot using Super 8mm Film, he takes us on an audio-visual journey to the heart of Africa, Ghana. ‘Akwaaba’, the Twi word for welcome from the Akan tribe, is a testament to the importance of embracing each facet of your identity. It’s powerful storytelling in it’s simplest form: Samuel is creating fragments of feeling that carries the audience through the complex range of emotions that exist within journeying to a space to find the truth of what makes you you. Combining the vibrancy of his images, with the beauty of the world he finds himself in, Samuel uses music to score the film without words and allows the audience to find their own narrative for ‘Akwaaba’. It’s both compelling and invigorating; Samuel’s energy for his work is palpable throughout the film. The film is a celebration, alluding to the late Virgil Abloh, of pan-African creativity. A celebration of the sheer level of diasporic creativity and the power of both welcoming and being welcomed home. But it is not just about pan-Africanism; it is about who we are as human beings and welcoming how much we shape and are shaped by our identities. - Patrick Nolan