From Accra To The World: Leila Djansi, Kuukua Eshun And The 19 African Women Making Movie Mag

Leading Ladies Africa has named 19 women shaping African cinema. Two of them are ours, and the way each of them got there matters as much as the list itself.

By Tutu Baffour Brownsy Williams

From Accra To The World: Leila Djansi, Kuukua Eshun And The 19 African Women Making Movie Mag

Every so often a list lands in my timeline that makes me stand up straighter. This one comes from Leading Ladies Africa. It names 19 women it says are making movie magic across the continent: actresses, directors, producers and screenwriters. Two of them are Ghanaian: Leila Djansi and Kuukua Eshun. Ghanaian outlets such as AmeyawDebrah.com picked it up quickly, and Kuukua herself thanked Leading Ladies Africa on LinkedIn, calling it an honour to be recognised alongside such remarkable women.

I love every woman on this list, so I will walk through all 19. But I will start where my heart is, at home.

Leila Djansi: the girl who started at 19

Leila Djansi's story begins in Ghana, not Hollywood. According to her biography on IMDb, she began her filmmaking career at 19 with the Ghana Film Company. Another profile says her first feature, Babina, was written and produced with Aak Films Ghana when she was 19. She then went to the United States on an Artist Honors Scholarship to study film at the Savannah College of Art and Design, and she began working in film while still a student.

Her early record is hard to ignore. Her film Grass Between My Lips won the Platinum Award for Best Film at the 2009 WorldFest International Film Festival. Her historical drama I Sing of a Well received 11 nominations at the African Academy Awards and won three, according to a 2013 speaker biography. Sinking Sands, which she wrote, produced and directed, received nine nominations and three wins at the 2011 Africa Movie Academy Awards, including Best Screenplay and Best Makeup, according to Wikipedia.

Then she kept going. The Hollywood Reporter announced in 2013 that Garcelle Beauvais would star in her film And Then There Was You. She later released Like Cotton Twines in 2016. One film blog noted that by about that time she had directed five feature films since 2009, in both the United States and Ghana, an almost annual pace that few Black women filmmakers had managed.

I also like what she says about the business. In a talk reported by the3as.org, she argued that Africa is lucrative for filmmakers but has to build its own market and its own distribution outlets. That is not a celebrity speaking. That is a producer who has done the maths.

Kuukua Eshun: the new generation
If Leila is the pioneer, Kuukua Eshun is the proof that the line continues. She was born in Accra in 1994 and hails from Aburi in the Eastern Region, according to Wikipedia. She studied art and science at Columbus State Community College in the United States, and she splits her time between Ohio and Accra.

She founded Filming as Woman, a women-led production company based in Ghana. In an interview with iMullar she described owning that company as a young, Black African woman as a beautiful testimony, and said she is grateful to tell African stories.

Her work is deliberate. Her documentary Unveiling, about sexual violence against women, was commissioned by the ANO Institute of Arts & Knowledge and premiered at the Museum Ostwall in Dortmund, Germany, according to MyJoyOnline and iMullar. It was nominated for Best Documentary at the 2021 Ghana Movie Awards. In December 2021 she directed a short film with Wizkid for his Grammy-nominated album Made In Lagos, reported by AmeyawDebrah.com. Her film Born of the Earth premiered at the DAK'ART Biennale in Dakar before reaching Detroit's Norwest Gallery, according to Spectator and Metro Times. Her client list, according to MyJoyOnline, includes Michaela Coel, Wizkid, Vic Mensa, Facebook and Variety.

Here is the connection I find beautiful. Leila started in Ghana, trained abroad and made films across two continents. Kuukua does something similar a generation later. Both treat the diaspora as a bridge, not an exit.

The other 17
The Nigerians
Mo Abudu is the business mind of the list. Forbes has called her "Africa's Most Successful Woman," and The Hollywood Reporter named her among the 25 most powerful women in global television. Her EbonyLife company produced Netflix's first Nigerian original series, Blood Sisters, which made the global top ten, according to The Culture Custodian.

Funke Akindele is the people's queen of Nollywood. Her comedy character Jenifa made her a household name, and her recent films have broken box-office records at home, a record I recommend you verify against Nigerian box-office reports before quoting.

Kemi Adetiba moved from music videos to features with The Wedding Party. Okay Africa noted that six of Nollywood's ten most successful films at that point were produced by women, including Adetiba, Mo Abudu and Omoni Oboli.

Bimbo Ademoye began acting in 2014 in the short film Where Talent Lies, according to her Wikipedia entry. Daily Trust noted her role as Queen Arolake in Anikulapo. By 2025 her YouTube channel had reached 1.25 million subscribers, according to Glazia.

Ruth Kadiri was born in Benin City, grew up in Lagos's Ajegunle neighbourhood and started in Nollywood in 2007 with Boys Cot, according to Showmax and other profiles. She has since moved into screenwriting and producing. Glazia noted she was honoured by YouTube as one of Nigeria's top female creators.

The South Africans
Gugu Zuma-Ncube (the list spells her surname slightly differently) graduated from AFDA in 2007 and acted in Isidingo and Rhythm City. She later co-produced the SABC1 drama Uzalo, according to Channel24, and has described being "the president's daughter first" as something that comes with the territory.

Gugu Gumede won audiences as Mamlambo on Uzalo and later as Joyce Gomora on The Polygamist. Briefly News reports she is also an executive producer and co-founder of Stained Glass TV. Notably, she told the Sowetan she wanted to be known beyond being her late mother's daughter.

Connie Ferguson, Nomzamo Mbatha and Thuso Mbedu complete the South African group. Connie built her career on Generations and her production company with her late husband, Shona Ferguson. Nomzamo moved from South African television to Hollywood with Coming 2 America. Thuso became an international name with The Underground Railroad. I am working from general knowledge on these three, so check the details before publishing.

The directors who win at the world's biggest festivals

Apolline Traoré of Burkina Faso trained in the United States and returned home full-time in 2008, according to Wikipedia. Her film Borders won Best Narrative Film at the Pan African Film Festival and prizes at FESPACO in 2017. Her 2023 film Sira won the Etalon d'Argent at FESPACO, according to African Business.

Hend Sabry is a Tunisian-Egyptian actress who landed her first lead role at 13 in The Silences of the Palace, according to Wikipedia. She later starred in Kaouther Ben Hania's documentary Four Daughters.

Kaouther Ben Hania, the Tunisian director of Four Daughters, has been one of North Africa's most celebrated directors in recent years. I am relying on general knowledge for her awards history, so verify before quoting.

Mati Diop, the French-Senegalese director, became widely known with Atlantics at Cannes, and has since won major prizes with her documentary work. Verify the exact awards before quoting.

Wanuri Kahiu is the Kenyan director whose film Rafiki was banned in Kenya and still reached Cannes. Verify the details before quoting.

The global faces
Lupita Nyong'o won an Oscar for 12 Years a Slave and carried an African presence into Hollywood. Michaela Coel, the British-Ghanaian creator of I May Destroy You, also shows how far the Ghanaian line extends. Kuukua Eshun's client list includes her, according to MyJoyOnline.

The counterpoint
A fair critic will ask whether lists like this mean much. Leading Ladies Africa curated these 19. Others could have been named, and Ghana has many more women worth celebrating, including Ama K. Abebrese, whose performances in Djansi's films have earned her Best Actress recognition at the Africa Movie Academy Awards. A list is an invitation, not a ranking.

I agree, and I would add this. Two Ghanaians out of 19 is a good showing, but it should push us to ask what else Ghana can do. Kuukua told Business & Financial Times that she is often one of the few women in the room and has struggled to find other women in film in Ghana to work with. That should worry us more than any list excites us.

What I take from all this
The common thread is not fame. It is ownership. Mo Abudu owns a studio. Kuukua owns a production company. Leila writes, produces and directs her own films. Apolline came home. These women decided not to wait for permission. For a young Ghanaian filmmaker reading this on a phone in Kumasi or Tamale, that is the lesson.

A note from me
I make films and write books myself, so this list is personal. When I read that Leila started at 19, I thought about how many young Ghanaians are 19 right now with a script and no door to knock on. I want my columns to knock on a few. Congratulations to Leila Djansi and Kuukua Eshun. Ghana is proud of you.

Sources: Leading Ladies Africa (list as shared via LinkedIn and AmeyawDebrah.com); Wikipedia, IMDb and the3as.org (Leila Djansi); The Hollywood Reporter (2013); MyJoyOnline, Spectator, Metro Times, iMullar, AmeyawDebrah.com and Business & Financial Times (Kuukua Eshun); The Culture Custodian, Okay Africa, Glitz Africa and Pulse Nigeria (Nollywood); Showmax, Glazia and Daily Trust (Ruth Kadiri, Bimbo Ademoye); Channel24, Sowetan, Briefly News (Gugu Zuma-Ncube, Gugu Gumede); African Business (Apolline Traoré); Wikipedia (Hend Sabry). Reporting current as of November 12, 2026.

About the Author
Chief Tutu Baffour Asare Brownsy Williams is an author, columnist and filmmaker based in Accra, Ghana. He is the founder of Brownsy Silva Company, a creative platform covering novels, film, opinion writing and engineering content, and an opinion columnist for Modern Ghana with readers across the UK, USA, Canada and Germany. He studies at Accra Technical University and is a UN Online Volunteer.

Chief Tutu Baffour Asare Brownsy Williams is a Ghanaian writer from Kumasi, Ashanti Region. Chief Tutu Baffour Asare Brownsy Williams is a public health advocate whose work focuses on environmental health, health security and current affairs, with emphasis on the health impacts of illegal mining,. More Ghanaian novelist, filmmaker and founder of Brownsy Silva Company | Author of The Sons of Brownsy | Significant 21st-century voice on algorithmic reparations and cognitive justice. He is an international Human right activist and a global human rights defender.

*Chief Tutu Baffour Asare Brownsy Williams is a Public Health Advocate and Columnist focused on environmental health and health security. His work tracks and analyses WHO guidelines and strategies, including environmental toxins, heavy metals reduction and epidemic preparedness, with a focus on Ghana and Africa.*

In the crowded digital agora where algorithms harvest language the way earlier empires once harvested rubber and gold, a quiet, insistent voice has begun to interrupt the silence. Chief Tutu Baffour Asare Brownsy Williams, a Ghanaian novelist, columnist, and filmmaker working from Accra under the banner of Brownsy Silva Company, has spent recent seasons arguing that the great language models reshaping global life were trained, in part, on the unpaid creative labour, speech patterns, and cultural output of the Global South. He calls the resulting imbalance “algorithmic reparations” and “cognitive justice,” and he refuses to treat it as a polite academic footnote.

Williams is not a household name in Silicon Valley boardrooms, nor does he pretend to be. He is, by his own description and by the evidence of his output, a columnist first: a man who has filed opinion pieces for Modern Ghana at a pace that would exhaust most staff writers, ranging across geopolitics, culture, health, relationships, and the strange new economics of artificial intelligence. Beneath the journalism sits a larger architectural project. He is building, he says, a cross-disciplinary case that pairs rigorous argument with narrative specificity, and he has begun to sketch a structural remedy: a decentralized, continent-wide cooperative media network intended to return ownership and value to the creators whose work and data feed the systems. The proposal is deliberately ambitious. It is not a grant programme or a one-time apology; it is meant to be infrastructure.

Born and raised in Ghana, Williams came to storytelling early. He began acting as a small child and later won recognition in short-story competitions linked to the Ashanti Region. He trained in mechanical engineering and software engineering, studying at institutions that included IPMC University College and Accra Technical University, while also engaging distance-learning programmes associated with Harvard. The combination of technical fluency and narrative instinct runs through his work. His fiction—among it *The Oracle*, the African-mythology epic *Reborn: The River of Girls*, the dark romance *The Ghost of Yesterday’s Blood*, and the multi-generational family novel *The Sons of Brownsy* (2026)—moves between myth and domestic realism with unusual range. *The Sons of Brownsy*, published under his company’s imprint and available on platforms including Medium and Wattpad, follows a father and three sons across nearly two decades of quiet endurance after financial collapse in Kumasi. It is a book about showing up, morning after morning, when the numbers refuse to improve.

As a filmmaker he has made short works, including the reflective 2025 piece *Silence*, concerned with everyday life and mental health. Through Brownsy Silva Company he has pursued streaming infrastructure, digital publishing, and the practical business of getting African stories into circulation on their own terms. Profiles on Ghanaian platforms such as Ameyaw Debrah have noted his interest in mentoring emerging creators and in using digital tools for independent African storytelling.

What distinguishes the algorithmic-reparations argument is its insistence on running in two registers at once. Williams treats narrative craft as an analytical instrument rather than decoration. Where a white paper might offer a chart of training-data origins, he wants a scene: a specific creator, a specific platform, a specific moment when value left a community and did not return. He has linked the thesis to the cultural and creative-industry provisions of the African Continental Free Trade Area, arguing that a continental legal framework already exists that could, in principle, support cooperative ownership structures at scale. Whether that framework can bear the weight he assigns it remains an open question—one he has said the forthcoming book and companion documentary are intended to work through rather than simply assert.

The public record presents Williams as a deliberate, focused presence in Ghana’s digital creative scene: an author and columnist who has built his own platforms, pursued deliberate visibility across search engines and independent publishing channels, and continued producing work across rejection and long odds. Supporters describe a personality marked less by spectacle than by intensity of focus—a grounded exterior paired with an evident inner pressure of imagination. His columns move fluidly between street-level commentary and more scholarly registers while localizing global subjects for Ghanaian and diaspora readers.

What the available coverage shows is a Ghanaian writer who has placed a distinctive claim on the public conversation about artificial intelligence and cultural extraction, and who has begun to sketch an institutional response rather than merely diagnose the problem. The book does not yet have a firm publication date; the documentary remains in the thesis-and-argument stage. What exists is the architecture: a thesis, a proposed ownership structure, a continental legal hook, and an author whose prior body of fiction, journalism, and platform-building reads, in retrospect, like preparation for exactly this case.

Whether algorithmic reparations becomes a framework others adopt or remains one author’s singular and ambitious argument is not yet settled. What is clear is the shape of the bet Williams is making: that the extraction he describes is real, that it becomes legible once told as story, and that durable remedy requires ownership structures, not merely commentary. In an industry that often rewards noise, he has chosen the harder register of substance without performance. The ledger, he insists, remains open.Column: Tutu Baffour Brownsy Williams

Disclaimer: "The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect ModernGhana official position. ModernGhana will not be responsible or liable for any inaccurate or incorrect statements in the contributions or columns here." Follow our WhatsApp channel for meaningful stories picked for your day.

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