2 weeks ago many joined in celebration of the opening of the Black Cultural
Archives in Brixton’s Windrush Square – the biggest Black heritage center ever established
in the U.K.
And as part of the celebration – starting on Friday August
15th and continuing until Friday Sept 5th at the Ritzy
Picturehouse – the Archives will launch a season of films, panels and talks that
are intended to explore the depth and diversity of Black British and global
African Diaspora cultures.
“Featuring
rarely seen documentary films and shorts spanning five decades of cinema- the
evolution of Black culture is examined through the post-war lens of Generation
Windrush; through the pioneering interventions of Black intellectuals, defiant
radicals and grassroots resistance movements of the 60s and 70s; through the
avant-garde gaze of the 80s Black British arts renaissance; through the
mediating journeys of Black womanhood and through connecting voices of the
African Diaspora.”
Among the films to be screened during the series are John
Akomfrah’s "The Stuart Hall Project" (2013, pictured above) and Stephen Vittoria’s "Long Distance Revolutionary: A Journey with Mumia Abu-Jamal."
Also in the program are a series of short films,
programmed by S & A contributor Jana Sante, entitled "Race, Resistance, Renaissance," which will include Amani Naphfali’s "Le Bohemian Noir et la Renaissance Del
Afrique," "Battle For Brixton: 25 Years On" and Lloyd Reckord’s rarely seen 1963 film "Ten Bob In Winter," which is a comic
take on street life in West London during the early 1960’s.
For more info about the film season at the Ritzy go here and here.
And for more info about the Black Cultural Archives go to its website here or
its Facebook page here.