In commemoration of the “ United Nations International Year of People of African Descent” London Metropolitan University is hosting a series of documentary screenings in association with Black History Walks. The UN declaration states that the year “aims to strengthen international, national and regional cooperation to benefit the people of African descent, and to recognize and promote their political, economic, social and cultural contributions from their diverse heritage and culture.” http://www.un.org/en/events/iypad2011/
Previously censored, excluded from the mainstream and forced underground, these documentaries highlight the political, economic, cultural and social condition of people of African descent. Free entry to all films
I Heard it Through the Grapevine
A highly personal film essay, written by James Baldwin, about who and what survived the Civil Rights movement. It features Baldwin, his brother David, Chinua Achebe, Fanni Lou Hamer, Amiri Baraka, and other friends Baldwin made through the 60s. On his journey he compares the strategies and tactics used by the black community in the 60s to see what worked and didn’t work with surprising results and revelations.
See video clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VlUc2xxBlo
Thursday 5th May 2011: 6.30-8.30pm
Room: GC1-08
Ghosts of Rwanda
Multi award winning history of the international response to the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
Whether you've seen or missed Hotel Rwanda this film presents a comprehensive understanding of the Rwandan genocide and the links between Somalia, Rwanda, Sudan and racism at the United Nations. The film also highlights African heroes such as the Senegalese peacekeeper Captain Mbaye Diagne who saved countless lives by repeatedly driving into enemy lines to rescue people. The genocide began on April 6th 1994 and went on for 100 days.
“Ghosts of Rwanda has the scope and the dramatic immediacy of an epic mini-series, such as Herman Wouk's War & Remembrance. What makes it bearable to watch, despite scenes that recall Nazi death camps, and bearable to contemplate, despite widespread evidence of moral dereliction are the acts of humanitarianism and heroism documented. ... Ghosts of Rwanda is almost as humbling as it is horrifying." Newsday.
See video clip http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVtN99_f4dE
Thursday 12th May 2011: 6.30-8.30pm
Room T11-03
In The Land of the Free
Directed by Vadim Jean this film examines the story of Herman Wallace, Albert Woodfox and Robert King, known as the Angola 3. Together they have spent almost a century in solitary confinement in Angola, the Louisiana State Penitentiary. Herman and Albert are still held in solitary confinement after thirty seven years. Narrated by Samuel L Jackson and featuring Robert King, now campaigning to free Wallace and Woodfox, the documentary questions how this abuse of Human Rights could still exist in America today.
See video clip http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8U5JMs0LvBo
Thursday 19th May 2011: 6.30-8.30pm
Room T11-03
The Murder of Fred Hampton
Black Panther Deputy Chairman Fred Hampton was one of the most charismatic and inspirational leaders in the USA. He organised free breakfasts for poor children and negotiated a peace deal between 6 different Chicago gangs who then used their members to help the community. The FBI and Chicago Police Department organised his assassination by paying an informer to drug him and draw a layout of his bedroom before arranging a police raid. Dismissed at the time as a 'conspiracy theory' this rare documentary uses government records and police informers to show how the American government murdered civil rights activists. See video clip http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ks7Qzfel4nE
Thursday 26th May 2011: 6.30-8.30pm
Room T11-03
London Metropolitan University (Tower Building) 166-220 Holloway Road, London, N7 8DB
Tube: Holloway Road
Queries and RSVP to Michelle Asantewa Emails: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it./This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
NB: Important to register for the screenings.
www.blackhistorywalks.co.uk This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Walks, Talks and Films on the African history of London all year long
The Black Image
Sunday 17th April 2-5pm
Lost Theatre, 208 Wandsworth Road
Tickets £7.00 Box office best to book in advance
www.losttheatre.org.uk www.blackhistorywalks.co.uk
A very revealing presentation and short films which show how the image of African people has been deliberately altered by Europeans to show negativity. In the 15th century African people were portrayed in European art as noble, sophisticated and dignified. With the rise of Empire these images were thrown out and replaced with demeaning stereotypes which still inform public opinion via children’s books, Hollywood movies and tv adverts. Previously held at the National Portrait Gallery and Imperial War museum in 2008 to full houses.
The Walter Rodney Story plus Q & A
Sat 16 July 3-6pm
Roxy Bar & Screen
128-132 Borough High Street, London SE1 1LB (Next to Sainsburys)
Tube: London Bridge. Buses 21,35,40,133, 343
Tkts: £7.00 in advance £9.00 on the door
Advance tickets here http://www.wegottickets.com/event/124779
See trailer here http://www.youtube.com/blackhistorywalks#p/u/6/yF5PHRPe2Kc
W.A.R Stories: Walter Anthony Rodney takes a straightforward, chronological approach to Rodney's life in Guyana, Jamaica, Tanzania and England, footage of various physical locations interspersed with interviews of persons who knew and worked with him, as well as his daughter Asha. Michael O. West said that Rodney was under surveillance almost all his adult life and there are also interviews with researchers Horace Campbell and Robert Hill, among others.
Substantial treatment is given to Rodney's political activities in Guyana in the final few years of his life in which he formed the Working People's Alliance. Included in those years was his 1979 trial for arson, after two government buildings were razed.
Rodney was killed on June 13, 1980, when a bomb disguised as a walkie talkie, given to him by Sergeant Gregory Smith of the Guyana Defence Force, exploded in a car in which he was being driven by his brother Donald Rodney.
It is said "there is so much ignorance in the country. You ask young people about Walter Rodney and they don't know". This is a chance to find out
Interviews with, Horace Campbell, Ph.D., professor of African-American Studies and Political Science at Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York; Rupert Roopnaraine, Ph.D., principal of the Critchlow Labor College, Georgetown, Guyana; Clive Thomas, Ph.D., professor of Political Science, University of Alaska Southeast; Issa Shivji, Ph.D., professor of Law, University of Dar-es-Salam, Tanzania; the late professor Haroub Othman, Ph.D., University of Dar-es-Salam, Tanzania; and the late Vice-Chancellor Emeritus Rex Nettleford, Ph.D., professor of Cultural Studies, University of the West Indies, at Mona, Jamaica. Also included among the list of those interviewed were poets, U.S. poet and playwright Amiri Baraka and Working Peoples Alliance (WPA) member Eusi Kwayana, writers, and activists including, Karen DeSouza and Andaiye, members of the WPA, the political party in Guyana to which Rodney belonged. Manning Marable Malcolm X biographer ,Asha Rodney (daughter) and Donald Rodney (brother
A Rod Westmaas and www.blackhistorywalks.co.uk production. Proceeds from the screening to be donated to the Queen's College of Guyana Association (UK) which raises funds throughout the year to enrich the lives and educational experience of current students at the Queen's College of Guyana, Walter Rodney's old school.
200 years of Black Soldiers in White Wars
Saturday 8th October 12.30-2.00pm
Imperial War Museum Lambeth Road SE1
Tube: Lambeth North.
Adm: Free. First come, first served
Bring pen and pad and be on time
Many people are surprised that there were Jamaican Spitfire pilots and Somali soldiers in the Second World War. The African/Caribbean presence in the Britain’s Imperial forces goes back much further than the 1940's however. This interactive audio-visual presentation will explore this often hidden history including filmed interviews with First World War Jamaican veterans, the role of British West Indies Regiment in Palestine, black female secret agents, and the African troops in Burma in the Second World War. In association with www.blackhistorywalks.co.uk Free talk, no booking required but please arrive in good time
Black Women Hair Skin & Beauty
Sunday 24th April 2-6pm
Lost Theatre, 208 Wandsworth Road
Tickets £7.00 Box office best to book in advance
www.losttheatre.org.uk www.blackhistorywalks.co.uk
Three films and discussion on the economic factors behind what is beautiful.
With evidence and testimony from South America, USA, Africa and England.
We show and debate who decides what is beautiful, the power of advertising, the history of imagery and how it affects adults and children in 2011
View video clip of previous event here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmUVXGfJ4Yc