Drexciya
_Drexciya_ portrays an abandoned swimming pool on Riviera Beach in Accra, Ghana. During the postcolonial era, at the beginning of Kwame Nkrumah's reign, the Riviera Beach Club was a luxurious hotel that thrived until the mid-1970s. The once-Olympic pool, now in a state of advanced disrepair, is now used for other purposes by the local community.
| Director | Akosua Adoma Owusu |
| Actors | Badewa Ajibade, Badewa Ajibade |
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Drexciya is an experimental, gripping cinematic portrait, and representation of the myth of Drexciya which according to the eponymous music underground band, is an underwater subcontinent where the unborn children of pregnant African women thrown off slave ships have adapted to breathing underwater.
In the film, an abandoned swimming pool in Accra is used as a representation of this myth. This pool and its dilapidated surrounding structures are used as an allegory not only to depict the Atlantic Ocean during the period of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, but also the African women who were thrown overboard the slave ships, kept alive through their unborn children who have found a way to adapt and live on.
The deliberate lack of dialogue in the film leads the viewer into having introspective moments as they try to interpret the allegory. The link to the mythical might not be immediately obvious; however, there’s no denying the aptness of the visuals when this connection is made. Adoma Owusu’s interpretation of this myth and re-interpretation using her cinematic language which indelibly marks the viewer, is a testament to her masterful storytelling and approach to hybrid and experimental filmmaking where she foregrounds the plight of African women. Drexciya as a work bridges the African diaspora and the African continent, the film representing a shared portion of both their histories.
Badewa Ajibade
Guest curator
-
Français
12 mn
Language: Français -
English
12 mn
Language: English
- Année 2010
- Pays Ghana
- Durée 12
- Producteur Obibini Pictures, LLC
- Langue Without dialogue
- Résumé court A portrait of a dilapidated Olympic-sized pool in Accra, Ghana.
- Ordre 3
Drexciya is an experimental, gripping cinematic portrait, and representation of the myth of Drexciya which according to the eponymous music underground band, is an underwater subcontinent where the unborn children of pregnant African women thrown off slave ships have adapted to breathing underwater.
In the film, an abandoned swimming pool in Accra is used as a representation of this myth. This pool and its dilapidated surrounding structures are used as an allegory not only to depict the Atlantic Ocean during the period of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, but also the African women who were thrown overboard the slave ships, kept alive through their unborn children who have found a way to adapt and live on.
The deliberate lack of dialogue in the film leads the viewer into having introspective moments as they try to interpret the allegory. The link to the mythical might not be immediately obvious; however, there’s no denying the aptness of the visuals when this connection is made. Adoma Owusu’s interpretation of this myth and re-interpretation using her cinematic language which indelibly marks the viewer, is a testament to her masterful storytelling and approach to hybrid and experimental filmmaking where she foregrounds the plight of African women. Drexciya as a work bridges the African diaspora and the African continent, the film representing a shared portion of both their histories.
Badewa Ajibade
Guest curator
-
Français
Duration: 12 minutesLanguage: Français12 mn -
English
Duration: 12 minutesLanguage: English12 mn
- Année 2010
- Pays Ghana
- Durée 12
- Producteur Obibini Pictures, LLC
- Langue Without dialogue
- Résumé court A portrait of a dilapidated Olympic-sized pool in Accra, Ghana.
- Ordre 3
