TEAM
Fred Kudjo Kuwornu
(Director- Executive Producer) is an Italian-Ghanaian-U.S. filmmaker, activist, educator, curator born and raised in Italy and based in New York. He is best known as the director of critically acclaimed documentaries such as Blaxploitalian, Inside Buffalo and 18 IUS SOLI. 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. On July 2021, He launched the platform BlackItalia.info and "Teaching Black Italy" a one week refresher online course for teachers which explores the contemporary presence of the African diaspora in Italy. He is the founder and curator of Black European Film Showcase which will debut in 2025.
Peter Boateng Manu
(Producer)
Peter Manu ((B.A. from IULM University) (Producer), is an experienced Italian-Ghanaian post-production executive based in London, bringing over 15 years of industry expertise. Starting as an on-screen talent in Italy, he transitioned to behind-the-scenes as part of the production crew of Total Request Live in Milan (MTV).
In London, he held significant in-house roles in dubbing and post-production for major players like Playstation, Sony Pictures, and Netflix. His portfolio includes notable productions such as "Call Me By Your Name," "House of Cards," "The Life Ahead," "Baggio: The Divine Ponytail," "Mosul," and "Kings of JoBurg."
During his time at Netflix, Peter led the Post Production Apprentice Program, placing young talents on Netflix-commissioned shows across Europe and Africa. Beyond his professional achievements, he actively supports inclusion and diversity in the film industry. Currently, Peter is venturing into producing and talent management, marking a new phase in his accomplished career.
Lorenzo Fabbri
(Producer)
Ph.D. (Cornell University), is an educator, film programmer, and producer based in Minneapolis. A native of Rome, Lorenzo currently serves as an associate professor of Italian and Moving Image Studies at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. His work on critical theory, cinema, and Italian contemporary culture has been featured in renowned venues such as Ethnic and Racial Studies, diacritics, Screen, Senses of Cinema, Res Publica, and Critical Inquiry.
Lorenzo’s latest book, Cinema Is the Strongest Weapon: Race-Making and Resistance in Fascist Italy, has just been released by the University of Minnesota Press. Beyond academia, he is the creator and co-producer of At Home in Scott County, an innovative public humanities project that utilizes documentary filmmaking to champion housing assistance programs in the Midwest. Having curated the Minneapolis-Saint Paul Italian Film Festival for many years, Lorenzo is now the co-founder and co-director of the traveling Black Europe Film Showcase and of the Twin Cities Black Europe Film Festival.
Luigi Benvisto (Director of Photography)
Born in Italy, I received a scholarship from Bernardo Bertolucci to study filmmaking in the U.S. at NYFA in New York.He is an AIC and IMAGO member in Europe, a Local 600 and IER Camera Operator in the United States and an ASC mentee! He is also a EASA certified pilot for drones.
CAST
Dr. Antumi Toasijé is a Spanish historian and Lecturer of History at NYU Madrid and an advocate for Afro-Spaniards
Dr. Kate Lowe is a Professor Emerita of Renaissance History and Culture at Queen Mary University of London. In 2005 she co-edited Black Africans in Renaissance Europe and she has worked on various aspects of Africa in Renaissance Italy for over 20 years
Dr. Olivette Otele is an historian and Professor of the Legacies and Memory of Slavery at Soas London. In 2020 she published “African Europeans: An Untold History”
Dr. Isabelle Castro Henriques is a professor of history at University of Lisbon and author of “A Heranca Africana em Portugal”
Dr. Aspha Bijnaar is the director of the Museum Bekennen Kleur Amsterdam
Dr. Simon Njami is an independent curator, lecturer, art critic and essayist.Njami is the co-founder of Revue Noire,a journal of contemporary African and extra-occidental art
Dr. Anne Lafont is is a French professor at the École des hautes études en sciences sociales in Paris and the author of: “L’art et la race”
Johny Pitts is the curator of the ENAR (European Network Against Racism) and the author of Afropean: Notes From Black Europe.
Dr. Vanessa K. Valdés is a Puerto Rican author, educator, writer, editor, historian, and associate professor of Spanish and Portuguese at the City College of New York
Dr. Stephen Small is a professor of Sociology at the University of Berkeley since 1995. He publsihed “20 Questions and answers on Black Europe”
Dr. Paul Kaplan is an American Professor of Art History at Purchase, NY
Jennifer Tosch is the founder of Black Amsterdam Heritage Tour and the New Narratives tour with Amsterdam's museums
Rubén Bemudéz is a Spanish photographer, filmaker and author of "Y tú, ¿por qué eres negro?"
Lucia Mbomio Rubio is a Spanish journalist, writer, and author of "Hija del camino"
Dr. Jose Luis Belmonte Postigo is professor of history at the University of Seville, Spain
Ibrahim Mahama is a Ghanaian author and an artist of monumental installations. He is the founder of Red Clay Studio, Savannah Centre for Contemporary Arts in Ghana
Natasja Kensmil is a Dutch artist based in Amsterdam
Dr. Isidoro Moreno Navarro is a professor of Social anthropology at the University of Seville in Spain
Miranda Kaufmann is a British historian and journalist. In 2017 she published "Black Tudors: the untold story"
Dr. John Brackett is an historian and Emeritus Professor of the Renaissance at University of Cincinnati
Marilena Umuhoza is an Italian writer, photographer
Michael Ohajuru is a Senior Fellow of the Institute of Commonwealth Studies and the Project Director of "The John Blanke Project"
Naïl Ver-Ndoye is a French historian and author of “NOIR - Entre peinture et histoire”
Dr. Giovanna Fiume is a professor of History at the University of Palermo. Her specializations is Mediterranean Slavery
Dr. Cristina Roldão is a Portuguese sociologist and a researcher at CIES-IUL, ISCTE – Instituto Universitário de Lisbon
Justin Thompson
is a curator, artist and founder of Black History Month Florence Association and the Uffizi Gallery’s project “Black Presence”
Wally Pocs is a Dutch activist at The Black Archives Amsterdam
Dr. Emir Kolfin
is a Professor or Art History at the University of Amsterdam and co-curator Blacks in Rembrandt's time
Dr. David De Witt is the Chief Curator at the Rembrandthuis in Amsterdam
Dr. Gianfranco Salvatore is an Italian Professor of Ethnomusicology at the University of Salento
Hassan Sall is a refugee from Guinea and the founder of Black Seville Tour in Spain
Naky Gaglo is the founder of Black Lisbon Tour in Portugal
Dr. Samantha Kelly is a U.S. professor of History at Rutgers University specialized in Renaissance Europe and Africa
Dr. David Pullins is a U.S. associate curator for the Department of Europeans paintings at the MET of New York
Dr. Luis Ferrer is a professor of history at the Pontifical University of Rome