‘The past can set us free’: Meet Chris Tsui Hesse, the cinematographer at the center of ‘The Eyes of Ghana’

IShowSpeed and the Obamas bring “The Eyes of Ghana” to theaters, spotlighting Chris Hesse, who documented Africa’s liberation movement.

A new documentary is coming to theaters on Oct. 28, thanks to streaming star IShowSpeed, Barack and Michelle Obama’s Higher Grounds production and Breakwater Studios. “The Eyes of Ghana,” which first premiered at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival, spotlights 94-year-old Ghanaian filmmaker Christian Tsui Hesse and his work documenting the African liberation movement. 

“It is a great honor to be part of ‘The Eyes of Ghana’ and help bring this extraordinary piece of history to the big screen. I felt a profound connection to Ghana when I visited this year, and learning about Chris Hesse’s work deepened my understanding of the country and its people,” IShowSpeed said per Variety. “His camera captured the birth of African independence, and his determination to preserve those images has ensured that future generations can witness it for themselves. I’m humbled by his legacy and proud to help bring his story to my community.”

“Chris Hesse spent more than six decades documenting and safeguarding an extraordinary chapter of Ghanaian and African history…‘The Eyes of Ghana’ speaks to the power of film to preserve our collective memory, and to the responsibility we share in making sure these stories reach the next generation,” Ethan Lewis, head of non-fiction at Higher Ground, added. 

The documentary follows Hesse as he attempts to recover thousands of films documenting Africa’s fight for independence from the 1950s and 60s while the cinematographer is slowly losing his own eyesight. 

Hesse is best known for his work as the personal cameraman for Ghana’s first president, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah. From 1956 to 1966, Hesse captured Nkrumah and documented his work leading the African Liberation movement. From Ghana’s independence in 1957, during which it became the first sub-Saharan African nation to gain its freedom from colonialism, to the 1966 coup that overthrew the nation’s leader, Hesse captured it all on film as he traveled closely with Nkrumah. And after documenting one of the most significant periods in African history, Hesse spent years protecting the backup copies of the footage that coup leaders burned in 1966. 

“The main reason was that we didn’t have a color lab here, and we’re shooting color. So the best thing to do was to preserve everything in London,” Hesse said in an interview with Kafui Dey, explaining how thousands of reels from that era ended up in London. 

Beyond his work with Nkrumah, Hesse reportedly served as a cinematographer with the Ghana Film Industry Corporation (GFIC) from 1954 to 1994 and later became the director. His portfolio includes projects such as “Love Brewed in the African Pot” (1980), as well as work with the United Nations covering the Congo crisis in 1960.

“The past can make us free,” Hesse told Dey, reflecting on his work. “Africans should expect the truth. The cine camera doesn’t tell lies. See, when that camera is interviewing you, how you are interviewing me, they see me saying something, and they can hear what I say, so they can also quote me. So the camera speaks the truth because the camera portrays something that actually happened, so [the average person] will now know what happened 50 years ago.” 

Learn more about Chris Tsui Hesse’s life in “Eyes of Ghana,” premiering in theaters on Oct. 28.