MEET DAVID BOANUH, FOUNDER OF BEAUTIFUL STORIES STUDIOS.

Bringing Stories to Life by Creating Magic Behind the Lens.

David Boanuh, Ashesi 2019 alumnus and Ashesi Venture Incubator (AVI) fellow, is the co-founder and Film Director of Beautiful Stories Studios. His journey into filmmaking was birthed from an interest in travel and lifestyle filmmaking, which slowly grew into a love for documentaries and narrative films. David believes that the African film industry has a central role to play, in countering the constant negative portrayal of Africa, which he refers to as the “African Single Story”. Co-founding Beautiful Stories Studios is his way of contributing towards the goal of representing Africa in the right light.

David has achieved remarkable success in his young career as a filmmaker and videographer. He has worked with multi-national consumer goods company, Unilever. While working with Unilever, he produced social media and television ads for many of their household brands, such as, Bailey’s, Vaseline, Blue Band and Geisha. In addition to Unilever, he has worked with notable brands such as Vlisco, Apple, and Chelsea FC. He’s filmed content for the likes of US talk show host Conan O’Brien, documenting his trip to Ghana and helped to capture the visionary piece of the “Black Is King” feature project by recording artist Beyonce.

David successfully opened a functional photography/film studio and office space, which serves as the home for the Beautiful Stories family. This space is more than just a studio — it is a creative hub which allows for collaboration and idea generation. In the near future, David hopes to move into a bigger place, or to replicate the Beautiful Stories Studio model across Africa, to provide pockets of inventive spaces that can foster collaborations even amongst underprivileged creatives in Africa.

Beautiful Stories Studios operates a hybrid business model. The business seeks to advance the United Nations’ eighth Sustainable Development Goal (SDG8) by promoting inclusion in the film industry. Considering that filmmaking operates within an industry that is capital intensive, not all creatives in Ghana or Africa have easy access to the tools required to create a great film. David and the rest of the Beautiful Stories team endeavor to reduce the resource gap plagued by talented creatives on the continent.

Again, by making authentic African films, Beautiful Stories Studios aims to promote peace, justice and more importantly, an inclusive society by exploring various aspects of the African identity. In doing so, they are contributing their quota towards achieving the United Nations’ sixteenth Sustainable Development Goal (SDG16), which is the attainment of peace and justice through strong institutions.

According to David, the Nexti2i program has given him the platform he needed to connect with other brilliant entrepreneurs and share ideas. The program also provided him with access to mentors and dedicated program leads who are experienced in providing guidance to entrepreneurs like himself.

Over the next three years, David says that Beautiful Stories Studios is looking to achieve the following milestones:

“As a production company we hope to form strong partnerships with global distributors such as Netflix and Amazon to distribute our work. These will serve as high revenue streams for effective business operations, as well as a means to reach even larger audiences across the world and make bigger impact.”

Within the next 3 years, Beautiful Stories intend to launch a fellowship & workshop program for filmmakers across Africa. This will include directors, scriptwriters, producers and directors of photography (DPs), cutting across several aspects that shape the film industry.

We hope to imbibe in the next generation of filmmakers the relevance of telling African stories that inspire and inform Africans on the continent and in the diaspora.” he said

In its 3 years of existence, Beautiful Stories Studios has catered to x clients, producing about X films and X videos/photos. Beautiful Stories Studios employs 10 creatives/workers.

The AVI celebrates David’s success and remains firm in its commitment to spur him and all its other fellows to success.

To find out more about David’s work with Beautiful Stories Studios, click this link: https://vimeo.com/beautifulstories

Tags: Ashesi, Ashesi alumni, AVI fellows, entrepreneurs, Incubator, shaping the economy