Every now and then, some Ghanaian parents living abroad would send their notorious kids to families in Ghana for some good old Ghanaian parenting aimed at reforming them. A similar captivating tale is told of a 17-year-old teenager's journey as she leaves behind her mother in New York City to reunite with her father in the award winning documentary, ‘Bronx Princess’.
Rocky Otoo is the Bronx-bred teenage daughter of Ghanaian parents, and she's no pushover. She is a sassy high-achiever bound for college. With freedom in sight, Rocky rebels against her mother's rules. When their relationship reaches a breaking point, Rocky flees to her father, a chief in Ghana. What follows is captured in Bronx Princess, a tumultuous coming-of-age story set in a homeland both familiar and strange.
Rocky Otoo is the Bronx-bred teenage daughter of Ghanaian parents, and she's no pushover. She is a sassy high-achiever bound for college. With freedom in sight, Rocky rebels against her mother's rules. When their relationship reaches a breaking point, Rocky flees to her father, a chief in Ghana. What follows is captured in Bronx Princess, a tumultuous coming-of-age story set in a homeland both familiar and strange.
By confronting her immigrant parents' ideas of adulthood, Rocky reconciles her African heritage with her dream of independence. Her precocious — and very American — ideas of a successful, independent life conflict with her father's traditional African values. Reconciling her dual legacies becomes an unexpected chapter in this unforgettable young woman's education. Filmmakers Yoni Brook and Musa Syeed met a 17-year old Otoo in 2008, at her mother’s beauty supply shop in Mount Eden. The high school senior was set to graduate, and then visit her father in Ghana.
In an interview with Otoo, she revealed …“I hadn’t seen my dad in two years. Yoni and Musa thought it was an amazing story. They found me at school the next day and asked to shoot a documentary.”Otoo is a bright and outgoing young woman. She’d recently landed a role in the school musical and agreed to the documentary plan. “I thought it would be an amazing opportunity,” Otoo said. “It was glamorous.” Brook and Syeed trailed Otoo, cameras in hand. “It was unscripted,” she said. “I walked and talked. The cameras followed me. Eventually, I forgot that the cameras were there.”
About her journey to Ghana, she said, “I thought I was used to Ghanaian culture. I was born and raised in the Bronx but there were so many Ghanaians in my neighborhood.” She thought wrong.
The documentary was shown at the West African Arts Festival block party earlier in September and is now available on DVD
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