Ekwa Msangi is a Tanzanian-American filmmaker, producer, and screenwriter. She teaches Production and Cultural Studies at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

Early life

Msangi was born to immigrants in

Oakland Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay A ...

, California. Her parents were

Fulbright scholars The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of ...

who attended

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

in the 1980s. She was raised in

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

after her family moved back when she was five years old. In 1998, was accepted into the

NYU Tisch School of the Arts The New York University Tisch School of the Arts (commonly referred to as Tisch) is the performing, cinematic and media arts school of New York University. Founded on August 17, 1965, Tisch is a training ground for artists, scholars of the a ...

where she earned a

Bachelor of Fine Arts A Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) is a standard undergraduate degree for students for pursuing a professional education in the visual, fine or performing arts. It is also called Bachelor of Visual Arts (BVA) in some cases. Background The Bachelor ...

in film and television. Initially discouraged and confused, her trajectory changed after she took a course given by African film historian

Manthia Diawara Manthia Diawara (born December 19, 1953) is a Malian writer, filmmaker, cultural theorist, scholar, and art historian. He holds the title of University Professor at New York University (NYU), where he is Director of the Institute of Afro-American ...

. She earned an MA in African cinema from

Gallatin School of Individualized Study The Gallatin School of Individualized Study (commonly referred to as Gallatin) is a small interdisciplinary college within New York University (NYU). Students at Gallatin design an interdisciplinary program that meets their specific interests a ...

at the same university.

Career

She launched her career in producing, then went on to make award-winning short films such as comedy ''Soko Sonko'' (''The Market King'') and television series for Kenyan broadcasters. Her films have been official selections at several world festivals including New York African and Durban International. She is best known for her feature film ''

Farewell Amor ''Farewell Amor'' is a 2020 American drama film written and directed by Ekwa Msangi. It premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. The film tells the story of a family of Angolan immigrants who reunite in the United States after a years-long s ...

'', which premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival and received critical acclaim.

Selected works

*2009: Block-D * 2011: Taharuki (short) * 2016: ''Soko Sonko'' (short) * 2016: ''Farewell Meu Amor'' (short) * 2020: ''

External links

*
Official website

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Msangi, Ekwa American filmmakers Tanzanian film people Living people Year of birth missing (living people)