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Fred Kuwornu’s ‘We Were Here’ Documentary on Black Africans in Renaissance Europe Accepted For 2026 Oscars

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Fred Kuwornu

When Italian-Ghanaian filmmaker and historian Fred Kudjo Kuwornu set out to challenge Europe’s selective memory of the Renaissance, he knew the work would be disruptive.

What he didn’t know was that his documentary, We Were Here: The Untold History of Black Africans in Renaissance Europe, would make its way into the race for the 98th Academy Awards.

The film has now been officially accepted for consideration in the Best Documentary Feature category for the 2026 Oscars, a milestone for both African historical storytelling and global cinema.

For Kuwornu, whose work has long centered on recovering suppressed histories, this project is personal.

“Among all artists with Ghanaian heritage in this awards cycle, I am the only one whose work is currently in consideration,” he wrote in a recent note to followers on Instagram. “My documentary brings back the stories that Europe tried to forget.”

Rewriting the Renaissance

We Were Here excavates a rarely acknowledged truth: Africans were not mere spectators — nor solely enslaved laborers — in 15th and 16th century Europe. They were ambassadors, soldiers, scholars, courtiers, artisans, diplomats, and religious figures, shaping cultural and political life from Venice to Lisbon, Florence to Paris.

The documentary traces the lives of figures whose stories have been buried for centuries:

  • Alessandro de’ Medici, Europe’s first head of state of African ancestry.
  • Juan Latino, the first Black professor in European university history.
  • Ne Vunda, the African ambassador to Rome, buried in the historic Santa Maria Maggiore.
  • João de Panasco, the African knight immortalized in the King’s Fountain.
  • Benedict the Moor, the son of enslaved parents who became a figure of veneration across the Americas.

Through archival work, art analysis, and expert interviews, Kuwornu reframes the Renaissance as a multiracial, multicultural epoch, rather than the homogenous image often taught in textbooks.

A Cultural Intervention With Global Momentum

Debuting at the 2024 Venice Biennale inside the Central Pavilion, the film has since been embraced by universities, museums, cultural institutions, and diaspora scholars across three continents. It has become part of academic conversations about race, migration, identity, and pre-colonial African-European exchanges.

Its Oscar consideration has amplified its reach — and its message.

Historians say the film arrives at a time when Europe is being forced to reckon with monuments, memory, and long-silenced histories. Kuwornu’s project serves as a corrective, arguing that a fuller understanding of Europe’s past necessarily includes Africans whose contributions have been neglected or erased.

Why This Matters

The Oscars often overlook African historical narratives unless framed through slavery, colonialism, or conflict. We Were Here breaks that pattern by presenting Africans as active agents of political and cultural life in pre-modern Europe.

It challenges audiences — in Europe and the African diaspora — to see the Renaissance not as a fortress of white European exceptionalism, but as a meeting point of civilizations.

For Kuwornu, this is not just filmmaking. It’s restitution.

His documentary, he wrote, “reconstructs an erased legacy that connects Europe, Africa, and the Americas.”

A Historic Moment for African Storytelling

Whether the film secures a nomination or not, its presence in the Oscar race marks a powerful moment: a global acknowledgment that the stories of Black Europeans in the Renaissance are not footnotes — they are history.

And after centuries of silence, they are finally being heard through a lens wide enough to include them.

Arts and GH Heritage

Digital Ancestry: Why Synaptic Resonances is the Future of African Performance

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The air inside Lomé’s Maison des Arts et du Social didn’t just vibrate with sound; it hummed with the electricity of a shared nervous system.

As the final notes of Synaptic Resonances faded, the audience remained “glued to their seats,” a rare moment of collective paralysis in an era of digital distraction.

Choreographed by the visionary Tréma Michaël Rakotonjatovo, the performance served as more than a closing act for the Off Biennial 2026—it was a glimpse into a borderless, Pan-African future where the body serves as a living hard drive for ancestral data.

The most arresting image was a solitary dancer, her face obscured by a sculptural mask, moving through a digital rain of Zafimaniry motifs. These geometric patterns, traditionally carved into the wood of Madagascan homes, were projected onto the stage as flickering code.

It was a poignant metaphor for the modern African condition: carrying the rigid weight of heritage while navigating the fluid, often chaotic “architecture of flows” of the 21st century.

As performers Adjaratou Yerima, Kafui Dogbe, Farouze Gneni, and Keziah Bagna merged into a quartet, the stage became a responsive organism. Real-time video mapping tracked their limbs, turning muscle and bone into transmitters of light.

For the Ghanaian spectator, the resonance is clear. Much like our own contemporary artists who are reimagining kente weaving through digital pixels, Rakotonjatovo isn’t interested in a static past. He treats tradition as an “invisible current”—a source of energy that must be channeled into new, improvised forms to stay alive.

By the time the dancers collapsed the boundary between performer and observer, we weren’t just watching a show; we were the synapses, firing in unison.

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Festivals & Events

From Records to Roots: Discover Your Family Story in This Global Webinar

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There’s something quietly powerful about hearing a name from the past and realising it belongs to you. Next week, an online event hosted by The National Archives invites participants to step into that moment—offering a guided journey into the lives of their 20th-century ancestors.

Titled Researching Your 20th Century Ancestors, the webinar forms part of a broader genealogy series designed to help people trace their family roots with clarity and confidence.

Led by family history specialist Jessamy Carlson, the session explores key historical records including the 1911 and 1921 censuses and the 1939 register—documents that capture everyday lives in remarkable detail.

Though rooted in British archives, the event resonates far beyond the UK, especially for audiences in places like Ghana, where questions of lineage, migration, and identity remain deeply meaningful.

For many Ghanaians—whether at home or in the diaspora—family history is not just about names on paper. It lives in oral traditions, clan systems, and the stories passed down at gatherings.

This webinar offers a complementary perspective: a structured, archival approach that can enrich those inherited narratives with dates, occupations, addresses, and personal histories that might otherwise be lost to time.

Participants can expect more than a lecture. The session begins with a pre-recorded presentation that breaks down how to navigate these historical sources effectively, followed by a live Q&A where attendees can pose their own questions. It’s an interactive experience, designed for beginners and seasoned researchers alike. The digital format—accessible via a simple browser—means that whether you’re in Accra, Kumasi, London, or New York, the journey into your past is only a click away.

What makes this event particularly compelling is its ability to bridge worlds. For international visitors curious about African heritage, it highlights the universal human desire to understand where we come from.

For locals, it offers tools to document and preserve family stories in ways that future generations can revisit and trust.

In a time when identities are constantly evolving, reconnecting with one’s roots can feel grounding, even transformative.

This webinar doesn’t just teach research techniques—it opens a door to rediscovery.

As the date approaches, those with even the faintest curiosity about their ancestry may find this an opportunity worth taking. After all, the past has a way of waiting patiently—until someone decides to look.

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Festivals & Events

A Sunday to Remember: Immersing in the Soulful Power of ‘Before His Throne’

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As the golden hour settles over the skyline on Sunday, April 19, a different kind of energy will begin to pulse through the air.

For those seeking more than just a typical weekend outing, the “Before His Throne” live recording offers a profound immersion into the heart of Ghana’s contemporary spiritual landscape.

This isn’t merely a concert; it is a high-voltage encounter where music, faith, and communal identity collide in a five-hour journey of transcendence.

In Ghana, the “Live Recording” has evolved into a significant cultural phenomenon. It is the modern-day intersection of ancient oral traditions and cutting-edge production.

Historically, Ghanaian worship has always been a communal affair—a “call and response” that dates back centuries. Today, events like “Before His Throne” carry that torch, professionalizing sacred music while maintaining the raw, improvisational heat that defines the local sound.

Culturally, these gatherings serve as a pulse check for the nation’s creative spirit, showcasing the world-class caliber of Ghanaian instrumentalists and vocalists.

Attendees can expect an atmosphere that is both intimate and electric. From 4 PM to 9 PM, the venue transforms into a sanctuary of sound. The “vibe” mentioned by organizers is a unique blend of polished Gospel artistry and spontaneous worship.

Visitors will witness the seamless fusion of traditional African rhythms with contemporary soulful arrangements, creating a wall of sound that is as technically impressive as it is emotionally stirring. There are no spectators here—only participants.

For the international traveler, this event provides an authentic window into the Ghanaian soul, far beyond the typical tourist trails.

It offers a chance to see how modern Ghanaians express their deepest convictions through art.

For locals, it is a moment to reconnect, to shed the weight of the work week, and to be part of a legacy of praise that feels both ancient and brand new.

Whether you are drawn by the music or the message, “Before His Throne” promises a memory that lingers.

It is an invitation to step out of the mundane and into a space where every note is a bridge to something higher.

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