IShowSpeed Joins Obamas on Documentary Preserving Ghana’s Historic Film Archives

American livestreamer IShowSpeed has entered film production with The Eyes of Ghana, a documentary exploring the efforts of veteran Ghanaian cameraman Chris Hesse to preserve footage of the country’s independence era.

The project gives the online personality, whose real name is Darren Watkins Jr., his first film producer credit. He joins a production involving Barack and Michelle Obama’s Higher Ground Productions and Breakwater Studios.

Directed by two-time Academy Award-winning filmmaker Ben Proudfoot, the documentary centers on Hesse, the 93-year-old former personal cameraman to Ghana’s first president, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah.

Through Hesse’s experiences and an extensive collection of archival footage, the film examines Ghana’s political transformation and its place in Africa’s liberation movements. It also follows the struggle to protect these historical records from destruction and deterioration.

Following the overthrow of Nkrumah’s government in the 1966 military coup, Hesse safeguarded more than 1,300 rolls of film negatives containing approximately 300 hours of footage. The material was taken to London for safekeeping and remained largely unseen for more than five decades.

The documentary follows Hesse and Ghanaian filmmaker Anita Afonu as they work to recover and digitize the collection, bringing the images back to audiences in Accra. Their efforts highlight the urgency of preserving fragile film reels before physical deterioration makes their contents irretrievable.

Afonu and Nana Adwoa Frimpong are credited as producers alongside IShowSpeed, while Barack and Michelle Obama serve as executive producers through Higher Ground.

For IShowSpeed, the project represents a new direction beyond the livestreams and travel broadcasts that established his international following. According to promotional accounts, his visit to Ghana earlier this year helped inspire his involvement, leaving him eager to share the country’s history with younger audiences.

His participation brings a substantial digital audience to a documentary focused on historical preservation, potentially introducing viewers to Nkrumah’s legacy and the people who documented Ghana’s emergence as an independent nation.

The Eyes of Ghana is scheduled for a one-night theatrical screening on October 28, 2026, with participating cinemas including Regal, AMC and Cinemark locations in the United States.

Screening and ticket information is available on the film’s official website, TheEyesofGhana.com.

Omanghana is an online news portal that provides readers around the world with a greater focus on Ghana and other parts of Africa. Established in 2009, Omanghana regularly publishes articles related to News, Sports, and Entertainment.

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