An African City | |
---|---|
Genre | Romantic comedy Sitcom |
Created by | Nicole Amarteifio |
Starring | MaameYaa Boafo Nana Mensah Maame Adjei Marie Humbert Esosa E |
Country of origin | Ghana |
Original language | English |
No. of seasons | 2 |
No. of episodes | 23 |
Production | |
Executive producers | Nicole Amarteifio Millie Monyo |
Original release | |
Network | YouTube |
Release | March 2, 2014 – present |
An African City is a television and a web series, which was created as a Ghanaian equivalent of Sex and the City for YouTube. [1] [2] [3] The first episode of the webseries debuted on March 2, 2014. The second season debuted on January 24, 2016. The series follows the lives of five single young women of African descent who have recently resettled in Accra, Ghana, after living abroad for most of their lives. [4] The series also displays how each woman balance being a successful college-educated woman with their personal lives as well as their new life as "returnees" in Ghana. [5] Each episode is told in first-person narrative through the main character NanaYaa and touches on a wide array of subjects from power outages or skin whitening to condom use, self-gratification and sexual abstinence before marriage.
Nicole Amarteifio, the creator and executive producer of the webseries, was inspired to create the series based upon her life as she was born in Ghana but raised abroad. Upon her official return to Ghana, she wanted to tell the story of women returning to the country, as well as help change the face of the African woman within mainstream society. Inspired by Issa Rae of the webseries Awkward Black Girl , Amarteifio made the series a webseries because she felt that her ideas would be changed and it wouldn't be the story she was trying to tell had she made it a television series. However, she based the series off of Sex and the City because she believed that Sex and the City gave American women confidence, and she wanted to do the same for women across the African continent. [6]
Yaa Asantewaa I was the Queen Mother of Ejisu in the Ashanti Empire, now part of modern-day Ghana. She was appointed by her brother Nana Akwasi Afrane Okese, the Edwesuhene, or ruler, of Edwesu. In 1900, she led the Ashanti war also known as the War of the Golden Stool, or the Yaa Asantewaa War of Independence, against the British Empire.
Prostitution is illegal but widespread in Ghana, so much so that many Ghanaians are unaware that it is prohibited. There are growing sex tourism, child prostitution and human trafficking. High rates of unemployment and poverty in Ghana are believed to be causing a drastic growth in the sex industry. Unemployment is a reason the teenage engage in sex trade. A high percentage of sex workers are vulnerable to HIV.
Felicity Ama Agyemang, also known as Nana Ama McBrown, is a Ghanaian actress, TV show hostess, and a music composer. She rose to prominence for her role in a television series titled Tentacles before later she found mainstream success following her role in the Twi-language movie " Asoreba" and "Kumasi Yonko". She was the host of the television cooking show McBrown Kitchen and an entertainment talk show United Showbiz on UTV until March 2023 when she moved to Media General. And she is currently a TV show hostess on Onua TV for the program called OnuaShowtime.
Juliet Yaa Asantewa Asante is a Ghanaian film actress, producer and director, and philanthropist. She is currently the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the National Film Authority (NFA). Her latest film, Silver Rain, was nominated for "Best Film in West Africa" and "Best costume" for 2015 in the Africa Magic viewer's choice awards (AMVCA) and also 2015 "Best Overall Film In Africa". In 1999, Asante started the production house Eagle House Productions. That same year she also started "Save Our Women International", a non-profit entity focusing on female sexual education and launched an innovation that makes short movies for the mobile phone in Africa in 2014 called Mobile Flicks. She is also the Founder and executive director of Black Star International Film Festival. Eagle Productions has helped train some actors and actresses in Ghana through its training arm, the Eagle Drama Workshop.
Nana Yaa, better known by her stage name Nayaah, is a Ghanaian Gospel singer and songwriter based in Luton, United Kingdom.
Grace Omaboe, popularly known as Maame Dokono, is a Ghanaian actress, singer and television personality. She ran the former Peace and Love Orphanage which is now Graceful Grace school in Accra. Omaboe and others were honoured by the organisers of 3Music Awards for her achievement in the entertainment industry in Ghana.
Edith Nuong Faalong is a Ghanaian entrepreneur, journalist, writer, activist and also actor.
Bertha Bridget Kankam, better known by her stage name Yaa Yaa, is a Ghanaian singer-songwriter and recording artist. Prior to her current stage name, she performed under her first name, Bertha.
Priscilla Opoku-Kwarteng, known by her stage name Ebony Reigns, was a Ghanaian dancehall/Afrobeats artist known for her hit songs "Poison" and "Kupe". Ebony was discovered by Bullet from Ruff n Smooth. She was the first Ghanaian female musician to win the Artiste of the Year Award at the Vodafone Ghana Music Awards.
Marie Humbert is a Swiss-Ghanaian actress. She received two nominations at the 2016 Ghana Movie Awards for best discovery and best actress, as well as at 10th Africa Movie Academy Awards for best supporting actress. She grew up in six countries with her family. Her father is Swiss French from Geneva and her mother is Ghanaian from Akim Oda, in the Eastern region.
Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah is a Ghanaian feminist writer and blogger. She co-founded award-winning blog Adventures from the Bedrooms of African Women and has written for The Guardian and Open Democracy. Sekyiamah is the Director for Communications manager at the Association for Women's Rights in Development and a member of the Black Feminism Forum Working Group which organised the historic first Black Feminist Forum in Bahia, Brazil.
Christie Quincyna Quarcoopome, known professionally as Cina Soul, is a Ghanaian singer, songwriter and performer. She was a finalist at the 2014 Vodafone Ghana Music Icons competition held in Accra, Ghana.
Akofa Edjeani is a Ghanaian veteran film actress, producer and entrepreneur. Her short film, Not My Daughter, won Best Short Film award at the Africa Movie Academy Awards (AMAA) in 2008, and I Sing of a Well, the movie she starred in and co-produced, won three awards and the Best Jury Award from Africa Movie Academy Awards in 2010.
Belinda Naa Ode Oku is a Ghanaian actress popularly known in showbiz as "Adwoa Smart". She was born at Abossey Okai, a suburb of Accra in Ghana. Adwoa has acted in numerous movies and drama episodes over several decades. She was very popular and highly sought after during the heyday of Akan drama from 1980 to the year 2000 and beyond. She has also featured in several music videos. Adwoa came into prominence as a cast member of the long-running Akan drama series "Obra" (Life) which aired on GTV during the 80s and 90s.
Clara Amoateng Benson popularly known as Maame Serwaa is a young Ghanaian actress and brand ambassador. In April 2018, she was featured in BBC Africa’s documentary on the ThrivingGhanaian Movie Industry. She has also won several awards including Kumawood Best Actress of the Year 2015 and Ghana Tertiary Awards Best Actress of the Year 2018.
Dr. Evelyn Mansa Amarteifio (1916-1997) was a Ghanaian women's organiser. In 1953 she established the National Federation of Gold Coast Women (NFGCW).
Nicole Amarteifio is a Ghanaian film director, producer, and screenwriter.
MaameYaa Boafo is a Pakistan-born Ghanaian actress and comedian.
Mercy Asiedu is a Ghanaian veteran actress who has contributed to the growth of the movie industry. She is known for the role she played in Concert Party and Asoreba. She is also known as being one of the popular Kumawood actresses starring in several roles in the 2000s.
Nana Mensah is an American actress, writer, and director known for her roles in 13 Reasons Why, An African City, New Amsterdam, Bonding, and The Chair. Mensah's directorial debut, Queen of Glory, had its festival premiere in 2021, and was released in 2022.