Italian-Ghanaian and American filmmaker Fred Kudjo Kuwornu is visiting Sweden and will be a special guest at the Nationalmuseum for an exclusive screening of his documentary We Were Here. Following the screening, Kuwornu will be interviewed by Martin Olin, former Head of Collections at Nationalmuseum.
Date and time
Friday 6 November, 15:00–16:30
Admission
Free
Seat reservations
Limited number of seats, prebooked reservation is needed
Tickets will be available shortly
Location
The South Courtyard, Ground floor
Diego Velázquez, Kitchen Maid with the Supper at Emmaus, ca1617-1618. The National Gallery of Ireland. Public Domain
Still from We Were Here. Copyright: Do The Right Films.
Poster, We Were Here.
About the event
We Were Here – The Untold History of Black Africans in Renaissance Europe sheds light on the overlooked presence of African and Black individuals in Renaissance Europe, highlighting their depiction in masterpieces by some of the era’s most celebrated artists.
How did they come to Europe? Why were they portrayed? Were they truly all servants or enslaved? What can they tell us about their presence and contributions to European Renaissance society? The documentary was shot across Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, England, the Netherlands, and Brazil.
The film will be followed by a short on-stage conversation with Fred Kudjo Kuwornu about his documentary, moderated by Martin Olin.
The event is arranged in cooperation with the Italian Cultural Institute in Stockholm.
Fred Kudjo Kuwornu.
About the director
Fred Kudjo Kuwornu is an Italian-Ghanaian and U.S. artist, filmmaker, curator and scholar based in New York. His work bridges past and present, the seen and unseen, exploring identity and race through historical remixing of archival materials.
Kuwornu's films have been exhibited at the 60ᵗʰ Venice Art Biennale in the Central Pavillion curated by Adriano Pedrosa (2024), museums and international film festivals and in 2025 his most recent feature documentary We Were Here qualified for Academy Awards – For Your Consideration in the Best Documentary Feature category.
Facts about the film
Documentary
Production year
2025
Language
Different languages, English subtitles
Length
63 minutes, conversation approximately 20 minutes.
Lectures, talks and other activities
Here you will find more activities that are conducted in English or are language-independent.