Films: The Destiny of Lesser Animals

The Destiny of Lesser Animals

Ghana, 2011, 89 Minute Running Time
Additional Countries: USA
Genre/Subjects: African-American, American Indie, Crime, Drama, Social Issues
Programs: Contemporary World Cinema, New Directors Showcase
Language: Fante/English/Pidgin/Twi/Ga English Subtitles

DIRECTOR: Deron Albright
Producer: Deron Albright, Francis Gbormittah, Dede Maitre, Yao B. Nunoo
Editor: Jacob Bricca, Lisa Molomot
Screenwriter: Yao B. Nunoo
Cinematographer: Aaron T. Bowen
Principal Cast: Yao B. Nunoo, Fred Amugi, Abena Takyi, Sandy Arkhurst, Xolasie Mawuenyega, Amanorbea Opoku-Boakye

Part crime drama, part quest for personal discovery, Deron Albright's drama focuses on Ghanian police inspector Boniface Koomsin, whose fondest wish is to return to the United States a decade after being deported. Elements at play include a counterfeit passport (stolen at the outset), an armed robbery (investigated throughout), a saucy casino hostess (Abena Takyi), a vanished young beggar, and the murder of an American expatriate. That Boniface (played by Yao B. Nunoo, who also wrote and coproduced) is lying to the chief inspector, Oscar Darko (Fred Amugi), about the evidence and his own intentions complicates the film's tangled issues.

Albright was raised in the Midwest and lives in Philadelphia. A Fulbright Fellowship took him to Ghana in 2008–2009, where he taught at the country's National Film and Television Institute and laid plans for this impressive first feature film. “It's about discovering home,” he says, “and the very human (and often difficult) struggle of reconciling one's dreams with the reality of the world into which we're born.”Albright also hopes that this Ghanian/American coproduction will bring new attention to the developing West African film industry. “We aim to demonstrate the best of what cooperative transnational cinema can be,” he says, “as well as how both stories and lives may be shaped by those who are willing to believe that the things that bring them together are far greater than what tears them apart.”
—BILL GALLO
Sponsored by Westin Denver Downtown

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