House of Aama: Threads of Legacy made its digital premiere earlier this week as part of the third season of In The Making, a documentary short series for the critically acclaimed PBS television program American Masters. Directed by Jamal Ademola, Threads of Legacy delves into acclaimed fashion label House of Aama, founded by, Akua Shabaka and her mother, Rebecca Henry, and its approach to fashion. Anchored in personal archives, Black folklore and storytelling the film chronicles the story behind the brand’s 2024 collection, ‘Sun Records,’ a homage to Shabaka’s late father, Jamaiel Shabaka, a prominent figure in the LA Free Jazz scene and keeper of the family archives.
Through interviews, vérité footage and archival material, the documentary weaves a rich visual tapestry from downtown LA to the neighbouring Fashion District to garment districts in Accra, Ghana, and New York Fashion Week, the film culminates with the runway debut of the ‘Sun Records’ collection. One of the most striking VFX sequences is one in which the women’s braided hair grows and intertwines, inspired by Anansi the Spider, a trickster folk hero from Ashanti folklore in Ghana, West Africa, to form a 2D animated title card designed by Cecilia Erlich.
Ademola explains, “Anansi’s story symbolically reflects the migration of African people to the Caribbean and the American South and, for the Afro braids sequence, I collaborated with hair artist Fesa Nu and VFX supervisor Simon Mowbray, of Where the Buffalo Roam, to convey the idea of interconnected ancestral, cultural and familial roots. I wanted to visually express Akua and Rebecca’s creative bond and the matrilineal thread of Black women passing down traditions of clothing and craft.”
Threads of Legacy made its world premiere as part of a special In the Making program at the 2024 DOC NYC Festival. It was subsequently selected for the New York African Film Festival, the Seattle Black Film Festival, and the Cascade Festival of African Films.