Fred Kudjo Kuwornu (born 6 September 1971), is an Italian-Ghanaian filmmaker,[1] producer, film curator and educator who holds both Italian and American citizenship, based in New York.
His documentaries deal with political and social themes, such as racism, interracial relations, diversity, Afro-Italians and Black diasporic identity in Italy and the African diaspora in the world.
The documentary includes interviews with African-American Veterans and Laz Alonso, Omar Benson Miller, Derek Luke and writer James McBride.
[7] In 2011, during a ceremony at the Houston Museum of Fine Arts, Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, honored Fred Kuwornu with a certificate from the U.S Congress in recognition of the work done to preserve the memory and the contributions of African-American soldiers during WW2.
In 2011, Kuwornu became a civil right activist for the so-called "Second Generation Italians" – children of immigrants born in Italy but who, because of the Ius Sanguinis law, are not allowed to automatically earn citizenship until they are 18.
Among the interviews, there are former Miss Italia Denny Mendez, the Dominican female actor Iris Peynado, and the African-American Harold Bradley and Fred Williamson, an icon of "Blaxploitation.
"[10] The documentary became part of the campaign #DiversityMediaMatters, initiated by Kuwornu and aimed at promoting diversity in the global film and TV industries, which Idris Elba, Will Smith and Spike Lee raised addressed the following year.
That same year, at the Festa del Cinema di Roma, Kuwornu launched the initiative "United Artists for Italy,"[12] which supports Black Italian actors and their struggle for more visibility.
[15] With the concept multimedia project series Blaq•It 'The Black Italians Timeline' started in 2020, Kuwornu experimented the hybridization of documentary with the esthetic storytelling of social media.
The series was featured on platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Youtube and others, and details the historical presence of African descent in Italy, hence presenting not only the recent history of refugees and migrants of the 1990s, but also the broad and incredibly rich universe of Italians of African descent who have been influencing Italian mass culture (through music, social media, Tv, sport, arts, publications, activism).
In September 2020 Netflix chose Fred Kuwornu to do the Italian voiceover for Karamo Brown in the episode "I am perfectly designed" of series Bookmarks- Celebrating Black Voices.
At Colorado College, Fred Kuwornu and professor Amanda Minervini taught the first course entirely dedicated to Black Italian Cinema and Digital Performance.