SUNDAY 1 - Black Britain
5/05 - 5/19
Presented in collaboration with the Nicholson Center for British Studies, this mini-series will showcase four essential films centering Black life in post-Windrush Britain. Featuring an early short by Horace Ové, Britain's first Black feature film director, and the works of Sankofa Collective directors like Isaac Julien and Maureen Blackwood, we invite you to join us for three screenings of this essential collection.
Co-sponsored by the Robert Nicholson Center for British Studies
Babylon (1980)
Franco Rosso · 95m · DCP
Set in 1980s London, Babylon follows reggae D.J. Blue as he navigates the streets and back-alleys of the city, taking part in its vibrant soundsystem culture and facing extensive police racism. Both heavy and jubilant in one stroke, this film offers an important portrayal of the ambitions and hardships of British-Jamaican youth in England.
Sunday, May 5th 4:00PM
Baldwin's N- (1968) // Perfect Image? (1988)
Horace Ové // Maureen Blackwood · 46m // 31m · DCP // Digital
Two short documentaries released twenty years apart from one another, yet bound by provocative explorations of identity in the U.S. and Britain. Baldwin's N-follows the titular academic James Baldwin and Dick Gregory as they address young West Indian academics organizing in Britain. Perfect Image? questions notions of beauty and self-worth among Black British women in the 1980s.
Sunday, May 12th 4:00PM
Young Soul Rebels (1991)
Isaac Julien · 105m · DCP
An urban pastoral set against the backdrop of the Queen's Silver Jubilee, Young Soul Rebels captures the vibrant soul of queer 1970’s London youth culture. This bildungsroman-thriller hybrid follows Caz and Chris, two friends running a pirate radio station. When their friend TJ is killed while cruising for sex, the two begin to drift apart as they deal with his death.
