SYNOPSIS
A story of transition within the Gold Coast, as the boy Kumasenu moves from a small fishing village to the modern city of Accra.
‘Lured by the false stories of his cousin Agboh, the boy Kumasenu leaves his village to seek adventure in the city of Accra. But he soon becomes lonely and hungry and is eventually caught by the police while trying to steal a loaf of bread. A kindly African doctor and his wife take pity on him, find a place for him in their home and help him to find work as a mechanic.…
CONTEXT
Filmed at Accra, at Kedze and in Keta over a period of a year from October 1950 until September 1951, The Boy Kumasenu was the first feature film made by the Gold Coast Film Unit and brought together a non-professional all-African cast. This included a schoolboy from Cape Coast in the title role, the granddaughter of the Chief of the Ada people (Angela Nanor), the editor of the Weekly Gold Coast News (Guy Warren, who was also a world-renowned drummer), a doctor and…
ANALYSIS
The Boy Kumasenu, with its all-African cast, offered a representation of Africa that played to both local and international audiences. While contemporary reports considered this an ‘authentic’ representation of Africa, the film – with its British director and crew – contains strong European influences.
First, the film uses a British commentator throughout. The commentator speaks almost entirely on behalf of the African characters while in later Gold…
TECHNICAL DATA
Year:1952
Running Time : 63 minutes
Film Gauge (Format): 35mm
Film Colour: Black/White
Sound : Sound
Footage:5720 ft
PRODUCTION CREDITS
Production Director : GRAHAM, Producer GRAHAM, Script GRAHAM, Script WYLLIE, John
COUNTRIES : Gold Coast (Ghana)
THEMES : Empire and Development
GENRES : Fiction
PRODUCTION ORGANISATIONS : Gold Coast Film Unit
WORKS CITED
Carstairs, C.Y., ‘Edinburgh Film Festival’, Colonial Cinema, December 1952, 76-80.
Noble, George, ‘Cameraman on the Gold Coast’, Colonial Cinema, 36-39.
Gold Coast Film Unit, ‘Gold Coast Film Catalogue, 1949-1954’ (1954).
‘The Boy Kumasenu’, Kinematograph Weekly, 31 January 1957, 20.
‘Letter from Sean Graham to Basil Wright, 4 December 1951’, accessed at BFI Special…
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