Blitz Bazawule: Oprah praises Ghanaian film director

Blitz Bazawule, the Ghanaian director of Beyoncé’s ‘Black Is King’ has garnered high praise from American broadcaster and actress Oprah Winfrey after he was named the director of the Warner Bros musical film The Color Purple.

In a Tweet, Winfrey revealed that Bazawule blew away the producers of the film "with his unique vision for the upcoming musical film version and we can’t wait for you to see it".

From #BlackIsKing to now #TheColorPurple, @blitzambassador has the perfect director’s brush for the next evolution of this beloved story. He blew us away with his unique vision for the upcoming musical film version and we can’t wait for you to see it 💜💜 https://t.co/foaMF74635

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— Oprah Winfrey (@Oprah) August 24, 2020

Bazawule is said to have impressed during a Zoom call pitch to producers of the movie including, Winfrey, Steven Spielberg, Scott Sanders, and Quincy Jones.

He later took to Twitter to express gratitude to the producers and urge fans of the musical to expect "something AMAZING!!".

Honored to reimagine Alice Walker's classic novel 'The Color Purple' for a new generation. Beyond grateful to have the legends Oprah Winfrey, Steven Spielberg, Quincy Jones and Scott Sanders as my Producers alongside Warner Bros Studios. Get ready for something AMAZING!!
🙏🏿💜🙏🏿 https://t.co/F288L8FQBH

— Blitz Bazawule (@BlitzAmbassador) August 24, 2020

Bazawule is a musician with four studio albums namely; Stereotype (2009), Native Sun (2011), Afropolitan Dreams (2014) and Diasporadical (2016) to his credit.

In his homeland, he is best known for his English rap verse on Deeba’s ‘Deeba’ song.

He co-directed Black Is King with Beyoncé and Emmanuel Adjei, helming the South African shoot. Bazawule also directed The Burial Of Kojo which premiered at Urbanworld Film Festival where it won Best Narrative Feature (World Cinema). It also won the Grand Prize at the 2019 Luxor African Film Festival in Egypt.

Bazawule is the founder of Africa Film Society, an organization focused on the preservation and distribution of classic African cinema. He is a Senior TED Fellow and recipient of the Vilcek Prize.