Ghana Studies

GHANA STUDIES / Volumes 12–13 ISSN 1536-5514 / E-ISSN 2333-7168© 2011 by the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System 121 MODERNITY AND DANGER The Boy Kumasenu and the Work of the Gold Coast Film Unit1 PETER J. BLOOM KATE SKINNER Introduction At the beginning of The Boy Kumasenu (dir. Sean Graham, 1952) the teenage protagonist, Kumasenu (Nortey Engmann), is introduced and aurally shadowed by a voice-over narration that explains his predicament as an orphaned boy from an unnamed fishing village in the Gold Coast.2 We learn that Kumasenu seeks to venture beyond traditional village life towards modern educational and social institutions of national citizenship. With the support of educated and compassionate fellow citizens, Kumasenu learns to avoid the pitfalls of petty criminality in the city. His intimidating cousin and antagonist, Agboh (Frank Tamakloe), provides a foil for 1. The authors would like to thank participants at the 2010 Cadbury Workshop, Centre of West African Studies, University of Birmingham, for a discussion on orphans in popular culture. In particular, we are grateful to Justina Dugbazah for translating the name “Kumasenu,” and to Patrick Oloko, Shani Omari, Leon Tsambu, Julie Archambault, Karin Barber, and Katrien Pype for insightful and stimulating comments. Kate Skinner would also like to thank the Nuffield Foundation for financing part of the research on which this article is based. 2. According to the catalogues of the period there were two versions of The Boy Kumasenu , a six-reel short version (63 minutes), and a ten-reel long version (95 minutes). The discussion in this article is based on the 63-minute version of the film. We have not been able to locate the ten-reel 95-minute version. For additional catalogue information , please refer to the two catalogues: (i) The Gold Coast Film Unit: 1949–1953. Edited by the Gold Coast Film Unit: Gold Coast, 1953. British Film Institute Library. Pamphlet 791.4: 966.7. (ii) Films from the Gold Coast: 1954–1955. Second Catalogue and Revised Price List of Gold Coast Film Unit Productions. February 1956. Gold Coast Film Unit. British Film Institute Library. Pamphlet 791.4: 966.7. As far as we are able to tell, most recent commentary about the film has been derived from the 63-minute version, which is the version held at the British Film Institute. For this short version of the film, please see http://www.colonialfilm.org.uk/node/332, accessed on 14 February 2011. 122 Ghana Studies • volumes 12–13 • 2011 Kumasenu’s march towards his place as citizen-subject along the horizon of decolonization: whereas Agboh becomes a gangster, Kumasenu finds gainful employment as a member of a motorized fishing boat crew, thanks to the intervention of Dr Tamakloe (Oku Ampofo) and his wife, Grace (Rosina Oku Ampofo). In this article we explore how the film is informed by, but also reveals, contradictions within British colonial film production and the uses of film in late colonial social policy. The Boy Kumasenu was produced by the Gold Coast Film Unit and directed by Sean Graham, who also served as head of the unit. Recognized at the Venice Film Festival, and nominated for “Best Film from any Source” by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts in 1953, The Boy Kumasenu was not simply innovative in its mode of addressing a colonial audience. It also took on a life of its own as a popular film among Ghanaian audiences.3 According to Chris Hesse (a former director of the Ghana Film Industry Corporation), The Boy Kumasenu was a seminal film that “turned the whole of Accra upside down.” Indeed, it influenced his own decision to train as a filmmaker because “It showed us that we could make films and stars out of our own selves.”4 Instead of it merely being a colonial propaganda film organized around a coming of age story, the film was significant for the emergence of Ghanaian cinema, and 3. Tom Rice, “The Boy Kumasenu.” Tom Rice has prepared this well-documented filmography for the British Film Institute website as part of the Colonial Cinema Project. The filmography will be posted on the British Film Institute website shortly...