Ekwa Msangi

Profile

Ekwa Msangi has written & directed several shorts, most recently award-winning comedy SOKO SONKO (THE MARKET KING), and FAREWELL MEU AMOR starring Tony Award nominee Sahr Ngauja, and actress Nana Mensah of the famed series An African City. For FAREWELL AMOR Ekwa was awarded the Jerome Foundation Grant, Tribeca All Access Fellowship, Cine Qua Non Lab Fellowship, IFP/No Borders, and Sundance Feature Film Development Fellowship. Ekwa has also written and directed several drama series for mainstream broadcasters in Kenya and MNET South Africa, including The Agency, MNET’s first-ever original hour-long Kenyan drama series.

Ekwa’s award-winning and critically acclaimed feature film Farewell Amor premiered in competition at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, garnering 98% on Rotten Tomatoes. The film won the Sundance Amazon Producer’s Award, and NYWIFT Directing Award amongst other distinctions, and was bought for distribution by IFC Films for North America, MUBI and Netflix for Worldwide. She has also directed for television including for Disney’s Growing Up docuseries, STARZ’s sultry Three Women, and Hulu’s Saint X season finale.

For Farewell Amor Ekwa was awarded the 2021 Indie Spirit “Someone To Watch” Award, as well as becoming a 2020 Sundance Momentum Fellow, 2020 BAFTA Breakthrough, 2022 USA Artist Fellow, and 2022-2024 ReFrame Rise Director Fellow. Ekwa is currently in development on several feature projects including a futuristic take on “The Scarlet Letter,” When She Woke with 30West, The Dictator Hunters with Archer Grey, MOVE! with Mandalay Pictures, and a biopic on tennis champion Althea Gibson with Park Pictures.