Rage, Racism, Reggae, Resistance
Pioneers of Black British Cinema
November 6 to 27, 2024
Nearly half a century has passed since the first Black British feature film Pressure, directed by the Trinidadian-British filmmaker Horace Ové, was released in 1976. And yet, the phrase "Pioneers of Black British Cinema" is likely to stir up a degree of genuine blankness, surprise, or plain intrigue among most audiences worldwide, including in Britain. And understandably so. History reminds us that far too often, speaking truth to power hasn't gone well for artists anywhere in the world. Black British filmmakers have not been an exception to this rule, having paid a hefty price for their audacious on-screen expressions of protest against racism, injustice, and oppression, thus existing merely as what film critic and curator Ashley Clark calls, "a ghost canon of British filmmaking…urgent work that has often been overlooked, actively suppressed, or left to languish in the margins, unloved or inaccessible." Pioneers of Black British Cinema is an attempt to bring to light some of the early groundbreaking works of British filmmakers and artists of African-Caribbean heritage belonging to this "ghost canon." Spanning across three decades between the 1970s and 1990s, and often described as "incendiary," "controversial," "angry," and "nihilistic," the five features and three shorts that form part of the programme are not only powerful reflections of pivotal moments in race-relations in Britain but also serve as a unique cultural archive of the Afro-Caribbean communities that came to post-WWII Britain from the Commonwealth (territories of the British Empire) in search of a better life.
In particular, the arrival of the HMT Empire Windrush, the iconic passenger ship that brought 1,027 hopeful Jamaicans to England on June 22, 1948 on the government's invitation to come and "help the mother country," marked a watershed moment in immigration in post-colonial Britain. Many of the Black British artists and intellectuals whose works are featured in the programme, such as Horace Ové, Sam Selvon, Menelik Shabazz, Isaac Julien, Dennis Bovell, and Brinsley Forde, are among those who either belonged or descended from the Windrush Generation (a term used for British Caribbean people who migrated to the UK after WWII), and whose artistic expressions reflect their own lived experiences as well as the collective struggles of Black Britons trying to integrate in a racially and culturally hostile nation grappling with the demise of its vast global empire.
With regards to on-screen representation, for most part, British film and television history, Black narratives were typically controlled and promulgated by white filmmakers. However, a palpable shift in attitudes occurred in the 1960s, allowing for an increasing number of artists from the African-Caribbean community to step forward and articulate their own stories, leading to some of the early documents of Black British Protest Cinema featured in the programme. At the helm of this artistic and intellectual outburst was Trinidadian-British director Horace Ové, whose hard-hitting debut feature Pressure (1976) became the first Black British film to chronicle the anxieties and identity struggles of the Windrush families in 1970s Britain. Ové paved the way for the Barbados-born filmmaker, producer, educator, and writer Menelik Shabazz, a trailblazer of independent Black British filmmaking whose debut feature Burning an Illusion (1981) traces a young Black woman's journey to self-awakening and emancipation, and is considered a milestone of Black British cinema. An exception to the group was the Italian-born British director, writer, and editor Franco Rosso whose personal experiences of post-war xenophobia turned him into a fearless voice of the marginalized. Rosso is best remembered for his debut feature Babylon (1980), an incendiary portrait of Reggae, racism and police brutality in 1980s London, and hailed as a cult-classic of Black British cinema. The 1980s and 1990s saw the arrival of a younger generation of boundary-pushing Black British artists, who continued to explore and expose the myths and realities surrounding the subject of Being Black and British through their unique artistic lens. The leading voices included: Ghanaian-born artist and filmmaker John Akomfrah (Handsworth Songs, 1986), renowned British artist and filmmaker Isaac Julien (Young Soul Rebels, 1991), and British-Nigerian director Ngozi Onwurah (Coffee Coloured Children, 1988, Flight of the Swan, 1993, Welcome II The Terrordome, 1994).
As a marginalized film movement rooted in the intersectionality of race, identity, and post-colonialism, in many ways, the trailblazing works of these Black British filmmakers offer us a rare and non-traditional perspective on the political, social, and cultural DNA of post-war Britain, and on the notion of Britishness itself. Oscillating between rage, racism, reggae, and resistance, the enduring legacy of this film canon lies in its deeply authentic, audacious, and often distressing representations of the inter-generational struggles of Black Britons trying to assimilate and belong in their "Mother Country" alongside their white counterparts. In his novel The Lonely Londoners, Trinidadian novelist Sam Selvon (co-writer of Pressure) devastatingly sums up this tormenting existential battle, which is at the heart of Black British Cinema: "Lord, what is it we people do in this world that we have to suffer so? What it is we want that the white people and them find it so hard to give? A little work, a little food, a little place to sleep. We not asking for the sun, or the moon. We only want to get by, we don't even want to get on." (Anupma Shanker)
All introductions by Anupma Shanker and the film talk with Martin Stellman will be conducted in English.
Nearly half a century has passed since the first Black British feature film Pressure, directed by the Trinidadian-British filmmaker Horace Ové, was released in 1976. And yet, the phrase "Pioneers of Black British Cinema" is likely to stir up a degree of genuine blankness, surprise, or plain intrigue among most audiences worldwide, including in Britain. And understandably so. History reminds us that far too often, speaking truth to power hasn't gone well for artists anywhere in the world. Black British filmmakers have not been an exception to this rule, having paid a hefty price for their audacious on-screen expressions of protest against racism, injustice, and oppression, thus existing merely as what film critic and curator Ashley Clark calls, "a ghost canon of British filmmaking…urgent work that has often been overlooked, actively suppressed, or left to languish in the margins, unloved or inaccessible." Pioneers of Black British Cinema is an attempt to bring to light some of the early groundbreaking works of British filmmakers and artists of African-Caribbean heritage belonging to this "ghost canon." Spanning across three decades between the 1970s and 1990s, and often described as "incendiary," "controversial," "angry," and "nihilistic," the five features and three shorts that form part of the programme are not only powerful reflections of pivotal moments in race-relations in Britain but also serve as a unique cultural archive of the Afro-Caribbean communities that came to post-WWII Britain from the Commonwealth (territories of the British Empire) in search of a better life.
In particular, the arrival of the HMT Empire Windrush, the iconic passenger ship that brought 1,027 hopeful Jamaicans to England on June 22, 1948 on the government's invitation to come and "help the mother country," marked a watershed moment in immigration in post-colonial Britain. Many of the Black British artists and intellectuals whose works are featured in the programme, such as Horace Ové, Sam Selvon, Menelik Shabazz, Isaac Julien, Dennis Bovell, and Brinsley Forde, are among those who either belonged or descended from the Windrush Generation (a term used for British Caribbean people who migrated to the UK after WWII), and whose artistic expressions reflect their own lived experiences as well as the collective struggles of Black Britons trying to integrate in a racially and culturally hostile nation grappling with the demise of its vast global empire.
With regards to on-screen representation, for most part, British film and television history, Black narratives were typically controlled and promulgated by white filmmakers. However, a palpable shift in attitudes occurred in the 1960s, allowing for an increasing number of artists from the African-Caribbean community to step forward and articulate their own stories, leading to some of the early documents of Black British Protest Cinema featured in the programme. At the helm of this artistic and intellectual outburst was Trinidadian-British director Horace Ové, whose hard-hitting debut feature Pressure (1976) became the first Black British film to chronicle the anxieties and identity struggles of the Windrush families in 1970s Britain. Ové paved the way for the Barbados-born filmmaker, producer, educator, and writer Menelik Shabazz, a trailblazer of independent Black British filmmaking whose debut feature Burning an Illusion (1981) traces a young Black woman's journey to self-awakening and emancipation, and is considered a milestone of Black British cinema. An exception to the group was the Italian-born British director, writer, and editor Franco Rosso whose personal experiences of post-war xenophobia turned him into a fearless voice of the marginalized. Rosso is best remembered for his debut feature Babylon (1980), an incendiary portrait of Reggae, racism and police brutality in 1980s London, and hailed as a cult-classic of Black British cinema. The 1980s and 1990s saw the arrival of a younger generation of boundary-pushing Black British artists, who continued to explore and expose the myths and realities surrounding the subject of Being Black and British through their unique artistic lens. The leading voices included: Ghanaian-born artist and filmmaker John Akomfrah (Handsworth Songs, 1986), renowned British artist and filmmaker Isaac Julien (Young Soul Rebels, 1991), and British-Nigerian director Ngozi Onwurah (Coffee Coloured Children, 1988, Flight of the Swan, 1993, Welcome II The Terrordome, 1994).
As a marginalized film movement rooted in the intersectionality of race, identity, and post-colonialism, in many ways, the trailblazing works of these Black British filmmakers offer us a rare and non-traditional perspective on the political, social, and cultural DNA of post-war Britain, and on the notion of Britishness itself. Oscillating between rage, racism, reggae, and resistance, the enduring legacy of this film canon lies in its deeply authentic, audacious, and often distressing representations of the inter-generational struggles of Black Britons trying to assimilate and belong in their "Mother Country" alongside their white counterparts. In his novel The Lonely Londoners, Trinidadian novelist Sam Selvon (co-writer of Pressure) devastatingly sums up this tormenting existential battle, which is at the heart of Black British Cinema: "Lord, what is it we people do in this world that we have to suffer so? What it is we want that the white people and them find it so hard to give? A little work, a little food, a little place to sleep. We not asking for the sun, or the moon. We only want to get by, we don't even want to get on." (Anupma Shanker)
All introductions by Anupma Shanker and the film talk with Martin Stellman will be conducted in English.
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