Questioning is central to our cognitive development, and understanding of the world – a characteristic part of growing up that shapes our sense of perception into adulthood. In experimental short film, Spirit, we explore how new surroundings can act as a gateway to new questions – and the importance of making space for these questions when change is inevitable.

Co-directed by Accra-based filmmaker and documentary photographer Christine Boateng, and Ghanaian-American writer and filmmaker Claudia Owusu, hailing from Columbus, Ohio, Spirit follows a young Ghanaian girl as she enters a dialogue with God, her curiosity peaking amid the ocean of subtext that accompanies her family’s move to a new home. In the child lead’s thirst for reasoning and feelings of loneliness, we see a portrait of Black girlhood through natural inquisitiveness and melancholia, as her grasp of her small universe destabilizes at the hands of a minor geographical shift.

A loaded yet light-hearted look at the role of spirituality in making sense of the unanswered, Spirit offers an intimate investigation of the complex systems at play around us – viewed through a child’s eyes. As the young girl at its center implores God outside the supervision of her parents, we engage with her growing ability to advocate for herself, and find her voice. While she seeks her place in the world, we are invited to turn our gaze inward at our own unresolved questions, exploring how, even with maturity, to be fully-formed is an unattainable reality.