friends and asked people to introduce us to other people so we could maximize our network. That's how we found a group of investors. Then we did Kickstarter and then we put in money ourselves." Anya Migdal, who plays a Russian-speaking neighbor and also produced the film, and Mensah met in an acting class. Mensah said they "bonded over our frustrations of being intelligent women who were not being asked to ever explore that side of ourselves in our acting roles". The archival footage of Ghanaian gatherings interspersed throughout the film was curated by Rita Mawuena Benissan, an archivist Mensah connected with on Instagram. Mensah conceived of using archival footage in the editing stage. She described the footage as a "link to the old country" in a film "about the new world". Release In April 2021, Magnolia Pictures International acquired worldwide and US sales rights to the film. In February 2022, Film Movement acquired the US rights. The film was released at BAM Rose Cinemas in Brooklyn on July 15, 2022, expanding to other US cities in the subsequent weeks. Reception On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 84%, based on 19 reviews, and an average rating of 7.2/10. Nick Schager of Variety wrote, "Mensah evokes the intricate ties that bind immigrants to their heritages, and the way those connections can both aid and hinder personal growth and progress. The writer-director's concise storytelling captures that complicated stew with next to no wasted gestures or diversions". Lovia Gyarkye of The Hollywood Reporter wrote that the film "avoids the usual tropes of 'West Africans in America' narratives by leaning into the small details of Ghanaian life", and called the film "tightly conceived, witty and compassionate" and "a love letter to children of Ghanaian immigrants and to the Bronx". Peter Sobczynski of RogerEbert.com described the film as "like watching a well-oiled sitcom in which all of the performers are playing off of each other so beautifully they hardly seem to be acting at all". Lisa Kennedy of The New York Times wrote, "Mensah traverses the polyglot turf well, infusing details with astute affection and understated laughs". Richard Brody of The New Yorker wrote, "Mensah looks in loving yet critical detail at the milieu in which she herself was raised and, working with the cinematographer Cybel Martin, realizes a distinctive style that's as memorable as the drama". References