With ‘Queen of Glory,’ Nana Mensah Tells Her Own Kind of Immigrant Story

As Sarah prepares for two funerals—an American wake and a traditional Ghanaian ceremony—she must navigate the unforgiving pressures of extended family members and a disintegrating romantic relationship. Yet in time, Queen of Glory becomes Sarah’s refuge thanks to the loyalty, insight, and support of the store’s devoted manager, Pitt (Meeko). A formerly incarcerated family man who is also an artisan baker, Pitt is a neighborhood pillar—and a friend when she needs it most. Her bond with him, along with other connections inherited from her mother, become the emotional safety nets she needs to grieve.

With Queen of Glory now in theaters, Vogue sat down with Mensah to discuss the film, the textures of life in New York, and the burden of West African exceptionalism.

Vogue: I know this is a busy weekend, so I’m thankful for your time.

Nana Mensah: Oh, thank you so much. I’m really grateful to be talking to you. When you’re working on something that is not a Marvel movie, you’re really grateful when somebody says, “Hey, I write for Vogue, and I’m gonna talk to you,” so it’s great.

I mean, for me, this type of film is Marvel-level because I’m your niche market. Who’s gonna go see this? Me and mine.

That’s just true. I said to my friend the other day, “I think all first-generation daughters need to see this film to begin our collective healing process, like therapy.”

I just felt like this movie was about a woman navigating her life. I didn’t think of it as an immigrant journey. A funeral would be difficult for anybody; I don’t even know if her identity made it worse. But how she navigated it seemed like the important thing.

I feel strongly that one of the things that I wasn’t saying, but I was saying, is that there is a lot of misogyny in Ghana. I think it was really important that Sarah be a cis woman because of how cis women are treated in our society, and how a daughter is. What her obligations are because of her gender…it is something that I wanted to talk about kind of obliquely. I didn’t want to be too overt about it, but this woman has a Ph.D., and it’s like, “When are you having a baby?”