When time came for us to honour one actress for Excellence in Film for the 2021 Ghana Women of the Year Honours, our quickest bet fell on the veteran actress Akofa Edjeani. Little digging was needed to cement our choice as the best pick for the year, since her major and minor roles played in Gollywood and beyond draws nothing else but perfection.
Whether she is captured in front of the camera playing a helpless mother whose daughter’s future can’t be financed by her daily income (Azali) or a regular village damsel whose beauty attracts royalty (I Sing of a Well), the delivery sinks well amongst audience, while causing a total mood of stillness backed with laudable applause.
She is undeniably one of the best to ever do it and as such worthy of the title bestowed on her as the Woman of the Year in Film.
Scroll below for some of her selected works we are binge watching this weekend for our watch list.
FILM
‘Azali’
SYNOPSIS: Sent away to evade an arranged marriage, a 14-year-old begins a harrowing journey of sex work and poverty in the slums of Accra.
CAST: Adjetey Annan, Akofa Edjeani, Asana Alhassan, Ama K. Abebrese
DIRECTOR: Kwabena Gyansah
AVAILABLE TO WATCH: Netflix
‘I Sing of a Well’
SYNOPSIS: Mansa Musa protects the kingdom of Kotengni as Prince Wanambe cannot ascend to the throne until he finds a wife. Prince Wenambe chooses to marry Soraya.
CAST: Jimmy Jean-Louis, Akofa Edjeani, Doris Sakitey
DIRECTOR: Leila Djansi
AVAILABLE TO WATCH: Prime Video
‘The Cursed Ones’
SYNOPSIS: The film tells the story of a disillusioned reporter and an idealistic young pastor, who fight to free a girl accused of witchcraft from the clutches of a corrupt system and superstition in the heart of West Africa.
CAST: Akofa Edjeani, Jimmy Jean-Louis, Oris Erhuero, Fred Amugi
DIRECTOR: Nana Obiri Yeboah
AVAILABLE TO WATCH: Flix Premiere
‘Children of the Mountain’
SYNOPSIS: A young woman gives birth to a deformed and sickly child and becomes the victim of cruelty and superstition. She is convinced she suffers from a dirty womb and embarks on a journey to heal her son and create a future for both of them.
CAST: Akofa Edjeani, Rukiyat Masud, Agbeko Mortty
DIRECTOR: Priscilla Anany
AVAILABLE TO WATCH: Prime Video
‘Awurade Kasa’
CAST: Akofa Edjeani, Brew Riverson Jnr, Harry Laud
AVAILABLE TO WATCH: YouTube
TV SERIES
‘Shampaign’
SYNOPSIS: A young and single mother of an eighteen year old boy seeks to run for the highest office in the country, and to be Ghana’s first female President.
CAST: Akofa Edjeani, Joselyn Dumas, Blossom Chukwujeku
DIRECTOR: Shirley Frimpong-Manso
AVAILABLE TO WATCH: Sparrow Station
