Ghanaian Filmmaker Fred Kudjo Kuwornu’s ‘We Were Here’ Makes Oscar Push After Venice Biennale Triumph

Ghana is celebrating a historic cultural moment as filmmaker Fred Kudjo Kuwornu continues to break new ground on the global stage. With his acclaimed documentary We Were Here – The Untold History of Black Africans in Renaissance Europe, Kuwornu has become one of the very few Ghanaians ever selected for the prestigious Venice Biennale of Art, and even fewer to win the coveted Dan David Prize—the world’s largest award for history, often described as the “Nobel Prize for History,” worth $300,000.

Premiering in the Central Pavilion of the 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia (2024), the documentary made history as the first linear feature documentary ever invited into the Biennale’s main pavilion. From Venice, the film now transitions into the international theatrical circuit—building momentum on its way to the Academy Awards race.

Next stop is New York City, where the documentary begins its Oscar-qualifying run on Friday, October 10, at Cinema Village (22 East 12th Street). The 6:00 PM opening night screening will be followed by a live Q&A with Kuwornu, giving audiences a chance to engage directly with the filmmaker.

Ghanaian Filmmaker Fred Kudjo Kuwornu’s We Were Here Makes Oscar Push After Venice Biennale Triumph

We Were Here offers a bold reframing of the Renaissance, resurfacing the overlooked presence and contributions of Africans in Europe. By reading iconic Renaissance paintings as historical evidence, the film highlights figures such as:

• Alessandro de’ Medici, the first Duke of Florence of mixed heritage

• Saint Benedict the Moor, a Sicilian friar venerated across Italy and the Americas

• Juan de Pareja, immortalized by Velázquez and later a celebrated painter in his own right

Shot across Italy, Spain, France, Portugal, England, and Brazil, the film invites audiences to reconsider the Eurocentric canon and embrace a transnational history that is both European and diasporic.

For Ghana, Kuwornu’s achievement carries deep significance. Few Ghanaians have stood on such international platforms, and fewer still have merged art, history, and social justice on this scale. As a filmmaker of Ghanaian descent who began his career with Spike Lee, Kuwornu has built a practice that connects scholarship with storytelling, reclaiming silenced histories at a moment when funding for such narratives is under threat.

With its unusual trajectory—from grassroots project to Biennale selection, and now to U.S. cinemas—We Were Hererepresents not just a film, but a cultural milestone. For both Ghana and the global Black diaspora, it’s a story of representation finally taking center stage.

For more about the film, visit www.wewereherethefilm.com.