Labone Dialogues welcomed Nana Mensah back to the city this December with a screening of her debut film, and the timing mattered almost as much as the event itself. Taking place during a season when a massive wave of Ghanaians from abroad return to Accra, the room was filled with an audience that closely reflected the communities the story speaks to. As a Ghanaian-American who has moved between both worlds for most of her life, Mensah has been connected to Ghanaian storytelling long before her mainstream breakout in The Diplomat—from her early role as Sade in An African City to the film she went on to write, direct, and star in. Sharing Queen of Glory with students and creatives in Accra felt less like a standard press run and more like a homecoming, a return to the community that has always been the center of her work.

The story centers on a Christian bookstore in the Bronx, a setting that feels immediately familiar to anyone who grew up in the diaspora. Winner of the Best New Narrative Director award at Tribeca, Queen of Glory follows Sarah, a doctoral student whose carefully laid plans fall apart after her mother’s sudden death. The film moves through the specific mix of humor and stress that comes with Ghanaian funeral rites. Mensah captures the smaller Ghanaian-American moments too—the funeral aunties, the planning, and the familiar domestic chaos that comes with living between two worlds. It is a perspective that almost never gets portrayed on screen with this level of nuance.

During the talkback, Mensah spoke candidly about why she made the film the way she did. She didn’t want another immigrant story built only around adversity or trauma. She wanted something that reflected how Ghanaian-American families actually act in the midst of hardship: messy, funny, stressful, and loving all at once. Her goal was to make space for that reality. As she mentioned to the audience, she wanted to show “humor and joy as well as the struggle,” and the film makes sure to stay genuine to that balance.

Part of that authenticity came from necessity. Mensah built the film from what she had access to. Without a massive budget, she “reverse-engineered” the script around her family’s actual Christian bookstore in the Bronx. Most of the cast were friends who understood the story she was trying to tell, which helped keep the film natural and close to her own experience. This approach allowed her to bypass the usual industry gatekeeping and tell a story that felt lived-in rather than manufactured.

Mensah has never shied away from keeping her Ghanaian identity at the center of her work. Before Queen of Glory, she appeared in An African City, one of the first series to show modern Ghanaian life through the lens of young women living in Accra. She carries that perspective into her larger Hollywood projects as well. She shared that her role in The Diplomat was originally written for a white male actor, and she worked with the showrunners to reshape the character—down to choosing a Ghanaian surname to reflect her background.

Now, her work as a filmmaker gives her full control over the stories she wants to tell. During the conversation, Nana was clear about Ghana’s potential as a production hub. She spoke about the level of talent in the country’s creative community and the momentum she sees across the industry. She also dropped a major hint about her future plans, mentioning that she is looking to produce her next film right here in Ghana. She described this as part of her wider commitment to telling Ghanaian stories in a way that feels true to her and the community she grew up around.

At the film’s premiere, Nana said she was struck by how many first-generation Ghanaian daughters were in the audience. It was one of the first times they were seeing a version of their own lives on screen. Moments like this show why the kinds of stories Nana tells matter. There aren’t many films that reflect the Ghanaian diaspora this specifically—capturing the distance, the return, and what it means to hold two versions of home. The response around Queen of Glory made it clear that people had been waiting for it.

Written By: HQ

Photography Courtesy of Studio Dream