African Folk Tales Come To Life In KWAKU ANANSE

If you - like me - first became aware of African trickster spirit Ananse through Neil Gaiman's Anansi Boys, here's your chance for something a little bit more authentic.

Akosua Adoma Owusu's Ghanaian short film Kwaku Ananse comes supported by the Focus Features Africa First program, a program which supports the best and brightest African talents. Owusu certainly seems to qualify on that front, the story blending traditional folk tales with contemporary social reality and the camera work looking simply gorgeous. Here's how the creator describes it:

"Kwaku Ananse" is an intensely personal project which draws upon the rich mythology of Ghana. The short film combines semi-autobiographical elements with the tale of Kwaku Ananse, a trickster in West African stories who appears as both spider and man. Ananse teaches us that there are two sides to everything and everyone.

The fable of Kwaku Ananse is combined with the story of a young outsider named Nyan Koronhwea attending her estranged father's funeral. Nyan's father led two separate lives with two wives and two families -- one in Ghana, one in the United States. Nyan's ambivalence about her father's double life is a reflection of a broader truth about the nature of our personal relationships.

Now in post, you can see a teaser from the film below.