A London-announced retrieval and digitisation project builds on
decades of preservation work, while the extent of the collection and
public-access arrangements remain unspecified.
Ghana’s Nkrumah film archive preservation effort has reached a new
milestone. The Ghana High Commission in London has announced completion
of the Kwame Nkrumah Film Archive Retrieval and Digitisation Project,
alongside specialised training in archival preservation. The mission
acknowledged Rev. Dr. Chris Hesse, film scholar Dr. Rebecca Ohene-Asah,
the trainees and the Iron Mountain team for their contributions. [1]
The announcement concerns a visual record closely associated with
Ghana’s first president and the country’s early independence era. It
marks progress in preserving material that has survived for decades, but
does not specify the number of reels or hours processed, establish that
the entire surviving collection is complete, or provide a date for
public viewing.
Chris Hesse and the
footage that survived
Hesse served as Nkrumah’s personal cameraman, documenting a period
that shaped Ghana’s political identity and Africa’s liberation
movements. UniMAC’s Institute of Film and Television describes his
preserved footage as an important surviving record of the early
post-independence years, including material that endured attempts at
erasure following the 1966 coup. [2]
The history of those films is also central to The Eyes of Ghana,
directed by Canadian filmmaker Ben Proudfoot. A Hawai‘i International
Film Festival account describes Hesse safeguarding reels in London and
working with Ghanaian filmmaker Anita Afonu to recover and screen his
work. That preservation history helps explain why a project announced in
Britain matters to audiences in Ghana. [3]
UniMAC-IFT held a screening of the documentary on April 17, 2026. Its
account records a discussion about preservation, authorship and the
resources needed to keep historical material available. The film’s
release and the later archive announcement are related developments, but
a documentary screening is not the same as making its underlying
collection accessible. [2]
What the
Nkrumah film archive announcement confirms
The High Commission’s statement identifies retrieval, digitisation
and training as elements of the initiative. It presents the work as a
Ghana–UK collaboration supporting historical records and knowledge
transfer. Its public text does not describe the technical work performed
by each participant or publish a detailed completion inventory. [1]
Earlier work provides useful context without answering those current
questions. In December 2025, King’s College London reported that a small
selection known as the Hesse Collection had been digitised with Ghanaian
partners and Proudfoot. It also described difficulties returning digital
copies at that time. Those earlier findings cannot establish the present
location or accessibility of the latest project’s outputs. [4]
The difference matters for readers interpreting the word completed.
It can describe the delivery of an agreed project without establishing
that every reel has been scanned, that original films have physically
returned to Ghana, or that a viewing service is ready for the
public.
A wider preservation
problem in Ghana
Ohene-Asah’s research on the Information Services Department’s
Central Film Library traces a collection serving public education and
government communication across colonial and post-independence periods.
Her account describes deteriorating storage, gaps in cataloguing and the
need to reformat important material for access. It shows that the
challenge extends beyond footage of a single political leader. [5]
Her involvement in preservation also includes a separate project
documented by UCLA Library’s Modern Endangered Archives Program. That
initiative concerns the Central Film Library’s VHS, Super VHS and
Betacam recordings of Ghanaian social, cultural and political life. It
should not be confused with the London-announced Nkrumah project, but
demonstrates the range of formats requiring attention. [6]
Film reels and video tapes create different technical demands.
Preserving national audiovisual history therefore requires more than
collecting recognisable footage: institutions need to know what they
hold, which items are deteriorating and what equipment or expertise is
required to recover them.
Digitisation
is a beginning, not permanent protection
Digital files can make fragile footage easier to consult, but storing
a copy on a drive is not a complete preservation strategy. The Digital
Preservation Coalition recommends independent copies in different
locations, regular integrity checks and migration as storage
technologies become obsolete. These are ongoing responsibilities rather
than one-time scanning tasks. [7]
Documentation is equally important. The coalition explains that
metadata supports discovery, authenticity and future use, while
recording preservation actions and relevant rights information. For
historical film, descriptions of dates, locations, people and production
context help users understand what a clip actually shows. An
unidentified scene may be preserved technically while remaining
difficult to interpret. [8]
These principles describe what a durable archive needs; they are not
a claim that the Nkrumah project has implemented every measure. The next
public update could usefully explain the collection’s scope, its
custodians and the arrangements for researchers, schools, broadcasters
and other audiences.
Analysis:
Access will determine the public value
For teachers and filmmakers, usable footage could offer more than
familiar images of Nkrumah. It could support closer examination of
public events, political communication and the people present in Ghana’s
formative years. Careful cataloguing would help audiences distinguish
evidence in the films from later interpretations of them.
An access plan would also need to explain who can view material,
request copies and seek permission for reuse. Free viewing and
unrestricted reproduction are different questions. Publishing clear
conditions would help cultural institutions and independent creators
plan their work without assuming rights that have not been granted.
The mission’s announcement recognises preservation work that deserves
attention. Its lasting value will depend on how the recovered material
is maintained, described and made available to the people whose history
it records.
Sources
- Ghana High Commission UK announcement
- UniMAC-IFT: The Eyes of Ghana screening
- Hawai‘i International Film Festival
- King’s College London film heritage project
- Rebecca Ohene-Asah research chapter
- UCLA Modern Endangered Archives Program
- Digital Preservation Coalition: storage
- Digital Preservation Coalition: metadata and documentation
- Opemsuo report
