We Were Here: The Untold History of Black Africans in Renaissance Europe

Film screening and discussion with filmmaker Fred Kudjo Kuwornu

We Were Here: The Untold History of Black Africans in Renaissance Europe sheds light on the overlooked presence of African and Black individuals in Renaissance Europe, highlighting their depiction in masterpieces by some of the era’s most celebrated artists. How did they come to Europe? Why were they portrayed? Were they truly all servants or slaves? If the Black faces portrayed in these Renaissance masterpieces could speak, what would they tell us?

Directed by award-winning filmmaker Fred Kudjo Kuwornu and produced by Do The Right Films, this multilingual documentary takes viewers on an expansive journey through the UK, Italy, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, and France, offering a compelling reexamination of European art history and its cultural legacy. Featuring insights from leading scholars in Art History, Black Studies, and History, alongside Black activists and curators, the film provides a rich, layered perspective on a neglected chapter of European history.

We Were Here has already attracted international attention, having been exhibited in the Central Pavilion curated by Adriano Pedrosa at the 60ᵗʰ International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale, which attracted 700,000 visitors. The documentary has received critical acclaim for its fresh, thought-provoking exploration of race, art, and identity in the Renaissance.

For more information about the film, please visit https://www.wewereherethefilm.com.

To view the film trailer, please visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94P3bp00aR4

Fred Kudjo Kuwornu is an Afro-Italian and U.S. multi-hyphenate socially engaged artist, filmmaker, curator and scholar based in New York. His work bridges past and present, the seen and unseen, exploring identity and race through historical remixing of archival materials. Kuwornu’s films have been exhibited at the 60ᵗʰ Venice Art Biennale in the Central Pavillion curated by Adriano Pedrosa (2024), museums and international film festivals. In 2025, Kuwornu was awarded the Folger Shakespeare Library Fellowship for his innovative approach to early modern European history through the lens of the African diaspora. He also received the Dan David Prize, the world’s largest history award, in recognition of his career-long contributions to public history and cultural memory through audiovisual language.

For more information about Fred Kudjo Kuwornu, please visit https://www.fredkuwornu.com.

The screening is free to attend with advance registration. It will be held in-person at UCLA Dodd Hall, Room 147. Seating is limited; walk-in registrants are welcome as space permits.

Images: Courtesy of filmmaker Fred Kudjo Kuwornu and Do The Right Films