"My name is Branwen Okpako and I was born in Lagos, Nigeria to a Nigerian (Uhrobo) pharmacologist father and a Welsh librarian mother.

I attended Atlantic College in Wales where I completed my International Baccalaureate, before going to University of Bristol where I studied Politics. After that I came to Berlin to study at the DFFB (German Film and Television Academy), here I met Tsitsi Dangarembga, Wanjiru Kinyanjui and Auma Obama.

I have stayed in Berlin where I continue to make films and raise my children.

The decision to study film came from a desire to combine all my passions: painting, telling stories and directing actors, all of which I had enjoyed doing since I was very young. Storytelling runs in our family. My father‘s brother Kpeha was a famous poet of Udje. Film seemed to synthesize these loves..."
(From africanwomenincinema.co.uk)

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DE

Branwen Kiemute Okpako, geboren 1969 in Lagos, Nigeria, studierte Politikwissenschaften in England und Regie an der Deutschen Film und Fernsehakademie Berlin (dffb). Sie realisiert Filme, Videoinstallationen und Theaterproduktionen. Ihre Filme und Videos wurden mit zahlreichen Auszeichnungen geehrt. Filme: Die Geschichte der Auma Obama (2011), The Pilot and the Passenger (2007), Tal der Ahnungslosen (2003), Dreckfresser (2000), LoveLoveLiebe (1999), Searching for Tahid (1998), Market Forces (1998), Landing (1997), Vorspiel (1995). Videoinstallationen (Auswahl): Christa/Christopher (2013), Theater: Schwarz Tragen (2013), Maggie Burns (2009), Scramble Quiz Video (2008), Das Singende Kamel (2007), Bloodknot (2007), Seh ich was, was Du nicht siehst (2002).

Source:
www.arsenal-berlin.de/berlinale-forum/programm/kuenstler-expanded/branwen-okpako.html