To celebrate Black History Month in the UK every October, the BFI have a wide range of films by pioneering black directors from the UK & US, including Isaac Julien, John Akomfrah, Julie Dash and Horace Ové.
Titles include:
Daughters of the Dust
Director: Julie Dash
Julie Dash’s majestic first feature is a poignant portrait of three generations of Gullah women (descendants of West African slaves) at the turn of the 20th century as their family struggle with the decision to migrate from their sea island home off the coast of South Carolina to the mainland.
Frantz Fanon: Black Skin, White Mask
Drama | 1996 | 70 mins
Director: Isaac Julien
Frantz Fanon was an Afro-Caribbean psychiatrist, philosopher and revolutionary whose inspiring, groundbreaking writing explored the psychopathology of colonisation. Subverting traditional documentary codes, artist Isaac Julien here unpacks Fanon’s life and ideas by interweaving Algerian locations, archive footage and interviews with family and critical thinkers. A rich, poetic and powerful work, in a new digital restoration.
The Stuart Hall Project
Documentary | 2013 | 103 mins
Director: John Akomfrah
Stuart Hall emigrated from Jamaica to the UK in 1951 to take up a place at Oxford University, and became a founding figure of cultural studies with a resounding and ongoing influence on British intellectual life. Comprised of archive footage and set to the music of Miles Davis, this documentary by the John Akomfrah matches the agility of its subject, playing on memory, identity and the changing landscape of the late 20th century.
These titles are available on DCP to BFI FAN members with terms of 35% vs £80 + (£20 restore fee) + vat. For more information and to book these titles, please contact: bookings.films@bfi.org.uk
Other touring programmes
As part of the Cinema Rediscovered UK tour, FAN members can also book the 4K restoration of Melvin Van Peebles’ little known Nouvelle Vague infused debut feature The Story of a Three-Day Pass, an edgy, romantic film set in Paris of 1967. It is part of the 1971: The Year Hollywood Went Independent touring package (a collaboration with Park Circus), five key titles from 1971 giving a glimpse of an independent Hollywood before it was overshadowed by the birth of the franchise, revealing a parallel Hollywood universe of personal, complex, nuanced and countercultural cinema.
For booking terms and details, contact: cinema.rediscovered@watershed.co.uk
Discover more titles on the BFI Player that are available during Black History Month.
