Fred Kudjo Kuwornu

Fred Kudjo Kuwornu (born 6 September 1971), is an Afro–Italian filmmaker.[1][2] He is best known as the director of critically acclaimed documentaries such as Blaxploitalian, Inside Buffalo and 18 IUS SOLI. His documentaries deal with political and social themes, such as racism, interracial relations, diversity, Afro-Italians and Black diasporic identity in Italy and the African diaspora in the world.[3]

Fred Kudjo Kuwornu
Born
Fred Kudjo Kuwornu

(1971-09-06) September 6, 1971
Bologna, Italy
NationalityItalian
Ghanaian
Alma materUniversity of Bologna
OccupationDirector, producer, writer, educator, author, civil activist
Years active1998–present
Parents
  • Perviss Kuwornu (father)
  • Alessandra Giacomelli (mother)

Personal life

He was born on 6 September 1971 in Bologna, Italy to a Ghanaian father and an Italian mother.[4] His father Perviss Kuwornu is from a village in Volta Region, Ghana, who arrived Italy in 1965 to study medicine.[5] His father specialized in cardiac surgery and general medicine and later graduated from university. His mother Alessandra Giacomelli is from Bologna when they met in 1969. Kuwornu grew up in Bologna in his mother's home and then moved to Ghana, Ferrara, Rome. Then he moved to USA and since 2013 He lives in New York.[6]

His father is a Protestant and mother is a Sephardic Jewish.[5] He practices Buddhism Soka Gakkai Japanese school.[6]

Career

After high school in Italy and USA, he obtained a degree in political science and mass media, from the University of Bologna.[5] He started to work as a DJ artist for 15 years for various radios, such as "Radio Bologna International" and "Radio Jam FM". During this period, he worked as a radio host for private radios such as 'Emilia' and 'Veneto'. Then he moved to Rome and conducted the TV program Zengi telecast on La7 in 2001 to 2002. He also became an actor with the television serial Un papà quasi perfetto directed by Maurizio dell’Orso.[4] He also worked as television writer for Rai Italia for a TV travel program called Italia Che vai .[6]

In 2003, he directs his maiden short film, Natale in Autogrill The film became a finalist at the Festival dei Due Mondi of Spoleto as well. In 2008, he quit from television to pursue a career in filmmaking.[4] In 2008, he started film career as a production assistant on the set of the film Miracle at St. Anna directed by Spike Lee. It is based on the Nazi massacre in St. Anna di Stazzema, Italy. After that experience, he made his own documentary, Inside Buffalo in 2010 about the Afro-American soldiers who helped liberate Italy from the Nazis. The film received critical acclaim and later won the award for Best Documentary at the Black International Cinema Berlin festival. Meanwhile, the film was highly praised by former presidents Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and Giorgio Napolitano.[6]

In 2012, he made his second documentary 18 IUS SOLI while becoming a civil right activist. The film deals with multiculturalism in Italy and the immigrants born and raised in Italy but are not yet Italian citizens.[7] The film later become one of the first documentaries for social change produced and distributed in Italy which later won the 2012 Ilaria Alpi prize. Between 2012 and 2106, the film was shown in Italy more than 800 times and screened at various film festivals.[4]

In 2013, he moved to USA and founded his own production company, Do the Right Films established in Brooklyn. With the success of the film, he made his third documentary Blaxploitalian in 2016. With the film, he brought African descent actors in Italian cinema. It was also screened at several international film festivals and received critical acclaim. Meanwhile, he developed the web series BLAQ • IT or so-called 'The Black Italians Timeline' in 2020.[5] It became a trend and as part of the new philosophy "Blaq Stars," dedicated to celebrate the Black Diaspora in the world. In September 2020 Netflix chose Fred to do the Italian voiceover for Karamo Brown in the episode "I am perfectly designed" of series Bookmarks- Celebrating Black Voices.[4]

Filmography
YearFilmRoleGenreRef.
2002Unpapà quasi perfettoActorTV Series
2003Natale in AutogrilDirectorShort film
2005Miracle at St. AnnaProduction assistant, Actor: uncredited roleShort
2007Virgin TerritoryStuntsFilm
2008AmatemiActorShort
2008Discovering the BuffaloproducerDocumentary
2010Inside BuffaloDirector, executive producer, writerDocumentary
201118 IUS SOLIDirector, executive producerDocumentary
2016BlaxploitalianDirector, executive producer, writerDocumentary[8]
2020Mothers & Daughters: Stories of women from Latin America in ItalyProducerDocumentary short

See also

References
  1. "Fred Kudjo Kuwornu". filmatique. Retrieved 27 October 2020.
  2. "Event Highlights: National Identity, Multiculturalism in Contemporary Italy – Film Screening and Discussion with Fred Kudjo Kuwornu". Boston University. Retrieved 27 October 2020.
  3. "A Conversation With Filmmaker And Activist Fred Kudjo KUWORNU About "Inside Buffalo": The Story Of Unsung African American Heroes Of The 92nd Division In World War II". weloveitalian. Retrieved 27 October 2020.
  4. "Full Biography Fred Kudjo Kuwornu" (PDF). dotherightfilms. Retrieved 27 October 2020.
  5. "Fred Kudjo Kuwornu bio". dotherightfilms. Retrieved 27 October 2020.
  6. "The incredible story of Fred Kuwornu, film director born and raised in Italy who now lives in America and looks to Africa". nuoveradici. Retrieved 31 October 2020.
  7. "18 Ius Soli: Addressing Citizenship in Modern Day Italy". iitaly. Retrieved 27 October 2020.
  8. "Blaxploitalian, a Documentary and a Call to Action". iitaly. Retrieved 27 October 2020.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.