Buzz

Ghanaian poet Apiorkor to perform at Sundance Film Festival

Published

9 months ago

January 26, 2021

One of Ghana’s most enterprising poets, Apiorkor, will be performing at the 2021 Sundance Festival slated for January 28 – February 3, 2021.

Apiorkor [Seyiram Ashong-Abbey] is a Ghanaian poet, media practitioner, an activist of Ga-Daŋme/Ewe ancestry, and author of The Matriarch’s Verse.

Apiorkor’s poetry concert remains Ghana’s largest independently organised poetry event.

She has appeared on TEDx platforms, in addition to #TEDWomen2020 (an annual TED conference organised by the TED headquarters in New York, USA) and at re:publica, Berlin.

She is an editorial advisor for The InfluencHER Project. Apiorkor is also a Production Executive at Accra-based Citi FM/Citi TV and hosts Diplomatic License on Citi TV.

Apiorkor does copywriting, voice-overs, teaching/mentoring, moderating, and what she describes as “wifing/mothering.”

Continuing their tradition of gathering and celebrating the womxn in their Festival community, this year’s Sundance Film Festival Speakeasy event will reclaim the idea of a coven as a source of magic, healing, and power.

Theatre directors nicHi douglas and Annie Tippe collaborate on creating unique ways to bring womxn together and creatively respond to an intentional prompt for 2021, especially amid the COVID-19 pandemic which has direly affected womxn.

During the #SundanceSpeakeasy, Apiorkor will be performing a poem that she has penned specifically for this event and which is titled Bewitched Vaginas.

Apart from Apiorkor, there shall be other performances from the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and Artistic Director Emerita Judith Jamison (Ailey), actor Marlee Matlin and director Siân Heder (CODA), actor Rita Moreno (Rita Moreno: Just A Girl Who Decided to Go For It), actor SOKO (Mayday, The Blazing World), and more.

The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organised by the Sundance Institute.

It takes place each January in Park City, Utah, Salt Lake City, and at the Sundance Resort. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States of America.

In tandem with this, they have devised a virtual #SundanceSpeakeasy, dubbed Conjuring The Collective: Womxn At Sundance, featuring performances from an array of talented womxn from the Festival and beyond, honouring a multiplicity of perspectives through globally diverse myths and stories, dance, art, music, and culture.
Theatre directors nicHi douglas and Annie Tippe collaborate on creating unique ways to bring womxn together and creatively respond to an intentional prompt for 2021, especially amid the COVID-19 pandemic which has direly affected womxn.

During the #SundanceSpeakeasy, Apiorkor will be performing a poem that she has penned specifically for this event and which is titled Bewitched Vaginas.

The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organised by the Sundance Institute.

It takes place each January in Park City, Utah, Salt Lake City, and at the Sundance Resort. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States of America.

Up Next

Veteran Nigerian Actor Ernest Asuzu reportedly dead

Don't Miss

Wizkid, Diamond Platnumz, Nasty C, Khaligraph Jones, and more announced to perform at MTV Africa Music Awards 2021

Multiple Grammy award winner, Angélique Kpasseloko Hinto Hounsinou Kandjo Manta Zogbin Kidjo, is expected to perform at this year’s Grow, Unite and Build Africa (GUBA) Awards.

The awards are slated for November 7 and 8, 2021, and would mark a centenary of the passage and resilience of Nana Yaa Asantewaa, the influential warrior and Queen mother of Ejisu, who rose to lead an Asante army against the British.

Speaking at a media briefing on Monday at Kempinski hotel in Accra, Chief Executive Officer, (CEO) of GUBA, Ms Dentaa Amoateng said, the celebrated African musician who hails from Benin would be honoured on the day.

She noted that the ceremony would be attended by prominent people of various background including former President of Liberia, Mrs. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf,the seventh Director–General of the World Trade Organisation, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, market women among many others.

Dentaa Amonteng further noted that Nana Yaa Asantewaa’s ravery,immensely contributed to the country’s independence story, because it shaped the psyche of the nation, that they could stand up for the country regardless of the apposition.

She said for this reason, there was the need to throw more spotlight on her and celebrate the amazing performance of women and empower young ladies to strive to the top.

According to her the two-day event, would first be a durbar at Manhyia palace in Kumasi on November 7, and followed by the rest of Awards the next day at the Grand Arena, Accra International Conference Centre.

Prince Anthony Bart, a member of the team said it would help instill the spirit of patriotism in the youth, “we need to learn about history of leaders who have contributed to our struggle.”

The Year 2021 marks exactly 100 years of the death of Yaa Asantewaa, the last African woman to lead a major war against colonial powers in 1900, where she played the role of the Commander-in-Chief of the powerful Asante Empire.

These events will observe an important moment in African history, one that is unique to the relations between the Republic of Ghana and the Republic of Seychelles and is expected to host several high-profile personalities from the diaspora.

While celebrating Yaa Asantewaa, the awards will also recognize the contribution of Black women in the diaspora and Africa. The 2021 GUBA Awards will also raise awareness on maternal mortality and call for measures to ensure safe child delivery across the continent. GUBA Enterprise believes that every child, born and unborn, has a great potential and must be given the opportunity to fulfill this potential