John Akomfrah (*1957, Accra, Ghana; lives and works in
London) is one of five children of Ghanaian political
activists. He was educated at local schools in West London
and at Portsmouth Polytechnic, where he graduated in
Sociology in 1982. Akomfrah is best known for his work
with the London-based media workshop Black Audio Film
Collective, which he co-founded in 1982 with the objectives
of addressing issues of Black British identity and
developing media forms appropriate to this subject matter.
Akomfrah's work takes a deliberately questioning approach
to documentary film. His debut as a director, the
controversial and influential Handsworth Songs (1986),
reworks documentary conventions to explore the history of
the contemporary British black experience: the film won
seven international prizes, including the prestigious John
Grierson Award. Testament (1988) is a portrait of an
African politician forced into exile after a coup d'etat. The
emergence of Black Power in Britain is the inspiration for
Who Needs A Heart? (1991) and Seven Songs for
Malcolm X (1993). A departure from earlier themes, the
BFI production Speak Like a Child (1998) is a
psychological drama set in Northumberland.
Besides making theatrical films, Akomfrah has directed
many television programmes, including one about Martin
Luther King for the Reputations series ('Dr Martin Luther
King: Days of Hope', BBC, tx. 30/7/1997) and another on
Louis Armstrong for the BBC arts programme Omnibus
('The Wonderful World of Louis Armstrong', BBC, tx.
10/5/1999). A critic as well as a film-maker, Akomfrah has
written widely about African cinema. He has been a
member of the Arts Council Film Committee, and is
currently a BFI Governor.
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