Halal

Emmanuel Adjei is a Ghanaian-Dutch filmmaker and visual artist, always seeking to challenge the boundaries between fiction and reality by creating atmospheric worlds in both a painterly and cinematic style. With a primary interest in storytelling, Adjei’s work interrogates concepts of power, freedom, displacement, and inequality, told through his multi-layered dramatic narratives.

Adjei’s career has been marked by collaborations with a variety of recording artists such as Beyoncé, Madonna, FKA twigs, Mark Pritchard, and Mykki Blanco. His short film The Formula (2016) and music video Human (2016) for Sevdaliza, has been hailed by critics, and his most prominent mind-bending short film Shahmaran (2018) received widespread critical acclaim, numerous awards and nominations at the UK Music Video Awards, D&AD, Young Director Award, Camerimage, Kinsale Shark Awards, Ciclope Awards, and Le Club des Directeurs Artistiques to mention some. In line with the success of his prior work, his distinct visuals for Madonna’s Dark Ballet (2019), and Batuka (2019), has been praised by the likes of Rolling Stone, The Guardian, NME, and Billboard. 2020 saw the announcement of Emmanuel’s contribution as film director to Beyoncè’s BLACK IS KING, which was nominated at the 2021 Grammys in the Best Music Film category. Following the phenomenal success of Black Is King, Emmanuel joined forces with FKA twigs, Headie One and Fred Again.. creating a poignant short for the track Don’t Judge Me (2021).

Adjei’s work has been screened at Academy Award and BAFTA qualifying festivals around the world.