5 min read
Major Takeaways
- THE EYES OF GHANA, directed by two time Oscar winner Ben Proudfoot and executive produced by Barack Obama and Michelle Obama, screens in theaters across the United States and Canada for one night only on Wednesday October 28.
- IShowSpeed, born Darren Watkins Jr., has joined the film as a producer and shared its official trailer, bringing his audience of more than 200 million followers to a story of African liberation.
- The documentary follows veteran Ghanaian cinematographer Chris Hesse, personal cameraman to Kwame Nkrumah, as he races against time to rescue more than 1,000 films of the independence era while his eyesight fades.
IShowSpeed is putting his name behind one of the most important Black history stories ever captured on film. Breakwater Studios and Higher Ground announced on October 15 that the 21 year old creator has joined THE EYES OF GHANA as a producer, credited under his name Darren Watkins. The documentary will screen for one night only in theaters across the United States and Canada on Wednesday October 28.
The film is directed by two time Oscar winner Ben Proudfoot and executive produced by Barack Obama and Michelle Obama. It tells the story of Ghanaian cinematographer Chris Hesse, who served as personal cameraman to Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s first president and a leading voice for African liberation.
IShowSpeed, born Darren Watkins Jr., has joined THE EYES OF GHANA as a producer. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.
A Hidden Archive of African Independence
As his eyesight fades, Hesse is racing to rescue more than 1,000 films that capture the continent’s struggle for independence in the 1950s and 60s. The archive was hidden for decades after Nkrumah’s overthrow in a 1966 coup.
Nearly seventy years after those images were first filmed, Hesse is entrusting his legacy to young Ghanaian filmmaker Anita Afonu and her classmates. His charge to them is simple: keep on filming.
Their work builds toward a public screening at Accra’s historic Rex Cinema. Five years ago, after a chance encounter, Hesse asked fellow documentarian Proudfoot to tell his story.
The 90 minute film was shot in part on IMAX 65mm film, with a camera provided courtesy of IMAX. Cinematographer Brandon Somerhalder captured the footage, and the original score from Academy Award winner Kris Bowers was recorded with the Chineke! Orchestra and Ghanaian musicians at Abbey Road Studios.
Speed Calls Ghana Home
For IShowSpeed, the connection to Ghana is personal. During his Speed Does Africa tour earlier this year, the Cincinnati native visited Accra and told viewers he was back home. He shared that his ancestry traces to Ghana.
At the Kwame Nkrumah monument, which features prominently in the film, Speed recreated the pose of the same leader Hesse spent years filming. The creator said he felt a profound connection to Ghana during that visit, and that learning about Hesse’s work deepened his understanding of the country and its people.
He also said he was humbled by Hesse’s legacy and proud to help bring the story to his community. At 21 years old, IShowSpeed has built an audience of more than 200 million followers across platforms. He is a two time Streamer of the Year, ranked No. 1 on Rolling Stone’s 2025 Most Influential Creators list, and named to the inaugural TIME100 Creators list.
Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s first president, whose era of African independence is captured in Chris Hesse’s rescued film archive. Photo: The National Archives UK, public domain.
The Obamas, Abbey Road, and a Festival Run
Higher Ground, the company founded by Barack Obama and Michelle Obama, is backing the film alongside Breakwater Studios. Ethan Lewis, the company’s head of non fiction, said the film speaks to the power of cinema to preserve collective memory and to the shared responsibility of making sure these stories reach the next generation.
The film has already earned serious festival honors. It opened the TIFF Docs program at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival and premiered internationally in competition at the BFI London Film Festival. Its awards include the Special Jury Prize and Best Documentary at the Africa International Film Festival in Lagos, Audience Awards at the Hamptons International and Annapolis Film Festivals, and the Heartland Film Festival’s Jimmy Stewart Legacy Award.
Tickets and local showtimes for the October 28 screening are available at TheEyesOfGhana.com. Participating exhibitors include Regal, AMC, Cinemark, additional select theater chains and independent cinemas.
Why This Story Matters to the Culture
Ghana’s independence in 1957 sent a shockwave through Black America. Nkrumah’s victory gave the civil rights movement living proof that African people could govern themselves, and leaders from Martin Luther King Jr. to Malcolm X drew strength from the liberation struggle across the Atlantic.
When that history was buried after the 1966 coup, a piece of our shared memory went dark with it. Hesse kept filming anyway. That is what makes this archive so powerful. It is Black history preserved by Black hands, not discovered by outsiders.
Now a 21 year old creator with more than 200 million followers is carrying that archive to a generation that learns history through phones, not textbooks. Speed telling his audience that Ghana is home continues a homecoming that began with the Year of Return, when thousands of African Americans traveled to Ghana to reconnect with their roots.
And when young Ghanaian filmmakers take up Hesse’s camera, the message is clear. Our stories survive when we keep on filming them ourselves. For more on how Black creatives are shaping the streaming era, read Streaming Wars: How Black Creatives Are Winning Big and 43 Songs, 3 Albums, 1 Drake: Did Drake Just Flood the Internet on Purpose.
