Directorial Debut Walk With Me By Kwame Asante Ofori Screens at AFRIFF

A documentary-short by Ghanaian film director Kwame Asante Ofori titled ‘Walk With Me‘, recently screened at the November 2018 Africa International Film Festival (AFRIFF) in Nigeria where TheAfricanDram.net caught up with the producer to learn more about it.

AFRIFF has annually held in Nigeria since 2010 and is a film festival that features award shows and film training classes. This year some 140 films were screened of which Mr. Asante’s film was one , other productions from Ghana that did well included ‘Azali‘, which won two of the best categories as well as the award for the best feature film.

Artistic Director of AFRIFF Newton Aduaka set a goal for the November 11-18, 2018 edition to present a rigorously selected program with an international gaze. Mr. Asante said to TheAfricanDream.net that this was the premise on which ‘Walk With Me‘ was chosen for screening.

‘Walk With Me‘ which came out in 2018 explores how Ghana has been 12yrs after the passage of her Disability Act into law to curb marginalization of the disabled and help integrate them into society. The documentary-short asks whether Ghana has attained ‘disability-friendly‘ status as a country today.

Executive Producer and a cinematographer on the project Derrick-Prince William Quartey chimed in saying “the work literally takes its viewer on a walk with disabled persons by giving visual opportunities to have a closer peek into their daily livelihoods. Many of them show us through the film how disability is not inability. We hope our film creates a climate of discussion on this subject.”

“That we merely made it to the official final selection of the 8th edition of AFRIFF’s shorts category with our documentary must have meant something about our work touched the panel of judges. I can’t say how humbled my crew and I are, this is a great encouragement for all and for me especially as this was my debut attempt,” Mr. Asante told TheAfricanDream.net in an interview from Lagos where he was also joined by Joseph Amo Nti, a co-producer on the project.

“Another cool thing is we got to lift the flag of Ghana high through this film and had an amazing opportunity to witness in action the prolific Nigerian movie industry of Nollywood. My crew and I have learned a lot, made some great connections and can promise Africa and the world that our next project will be bigger and better, so watch out,” Kwame Asante Ofori said.

Kwame Asante Ofori, who is a producer at the Voice Of America in Washington DC, is an alum of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi, Ghana. Check out his blog at www.HouseOfAsante.com and watch a ‘Walk With Me’ teaser in this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=69&v=8rxWrdnn6ws

Photo Caption: Kwame Asante Ofori in blue jeans with Derrick-Prince William Quartey at the 2018 AFRIFF in Nigeria, to their left is a poster of their film 'Walk With Me'. Image courtesy HouseOfAsante.com