Like Cotton Twines – the latest film by a Ghanaian filmmaker – is among the films set to screen at the 20th Urbanworld Film Festival in New York. This comes just a few months after the film made a sold-out world premiere at the Los Angeles film festival in June.
The film is set to screen alongside the much anticipated “Queen of Katwe” at the upcoming film festival, which will run from September 21 to September 25. “Like Cotton Twines” will be screening on Thursday, September 22 at 5pm at the Empire Theater, 42nd Street, New York.
Visionary filmmaker Ava Duvemay and Selma star David Oyelowo are expected to serve as the festival ambassadors. Also on the red carpet will be actor Jay Ellis and film director Leila Djansi.
Like Cotton Twines
Shot in a small village in Ghana, the film “Like Cotton Twines” is a socially provoking drama touching on modern day slavery and racism.
It revolves around a 14-year-old Ghanaian JSS female student called Tuigi and an enthusiastic American teacher, Micah, who volunteers to teach in his indigenous Ghanaian village.
Tuigi must become Trokosi – slave to the gods – as a punishment to atone for her father’s crime. According to religious beliefs, Tuigi must abandon school and be offered as a sex slave.
But in an effort to rescue Tuigi from her misery, Micah learns that he also must exorcise his own demons when he returns to the land where his ancestors were taken from as slaves.
Leila Djansi
Speaking to Hollywood’s Black Renaissance, Leila Djansi said the film “Like Cotton Twines” was inspired by her encounter with a young slave girl in Ghana when she was 10 years old.
“I was very young, but I could still see that she has lost all hope,” Djansi said.
The young filmmaker, whose film career began in Ghana before moving to the United States, also says that she finds pleasure in creating films that revolve around social issues affecting people globally.
She also hopes to use her career in the film industry to educate her audiences and raise awareness about pertinent social issues, believing that her films will act as a catalyst for change.
Some of her previous films include “I sing of a Well”, “Sinking Sands”, “Ties That Bind”, and “Where Children Play”.
Click here to buy tickets for the NYC screening of “Like Cotton Twines.”
