In this love letter to cinema, we witness Ghanaian cameraman Chris Hesse, now in his 90s, pass on his legacy to the younger filmmaker Anita Afonu, captured by two-time Oscar winner Ben Proudfoot.
The power of cinema has a profound spokesperson in Chris Hesse who toiled in obscurity for six decades. Now in his nineties, Hesse finally receives the spotlight he deserves in The Eyes of Ghana.
Back in the 1950s and 1960s, Hesse was the personal cameraman to Ghana’s revolutionary leader Kwame Nkrumah. That made him an eyewitness to Africa’s tumultuous liberation movement away from colonialist rule. Nkrumah was deposed in a coup and his rivals sought to destroy all his filmed records. But Hesse found a way to preserve over 1,300 reels. They’ve scarcely been seen since they were filmed.
As Hesse nears the end of his life, we watch him share his legacy with the young Ghanaian filmmaker Anita Afonu, whose passion for cinema burns as brightly as his. Afonu’s dream is to reveal Hesse’s films to a new generation. She sets about trying to stage a public screening in Ghana’s capital Accra at The Rex, a once-grand outdoor cinema badly in need of repair.
The Eyes of Ghana has an extraordinary team behind it. Afonu serves as a producer alongside Ghanaian-Canadian Nana Adwoa Frimpong and the Oscar-nominated Moses Bwayo. Oscar-nominated composer Kris Bowers provides the score. Serving as executive producers are Barack and Michelle Obama through their production company, Higher Ground.
The director, Ben Proudfoot, has a gift for honouring overlooked figures and two of his short films where he does so have won Oscars. He met Hesse by happenstance and the two immediately recognized kindred spirits in one another. The coming together of all these talents is a cause for celebration.
THOM POWERS
Screenings
TIFF Lightbox 2
Scotiabank 8
Scotiabank 10
Scotiabank 5