Films
African Animations Forum
Saturday 20th August 6.30-9pm
Venue: Near Walthamstow tube
This is separate to and different from African Superheroes Day..
Two hours of non stop cartoons combined with a black history quiz . Educational fun for adults and kids alike. Cartoons include:
Afroman: Kwame lives in New York but has been given superpowers by the ancient Egyptian Auset. He has to recharge his superpowers by studying history and must use them to fight the Media Monster
Cabel an African village woman has her children kidnapped by Aliens, she becomes a super-soldier and with her secret weapon goes off to outer space to rescue them.
Bino and Fino: produced in Nigeria this brother and sister live in the city and find out about colonialism, african food and culture in their adventures.
Anansi the spider gets into trouble after betting the Elephant that he's stronger,
Plus 6 other cartoons from all over the world with positive images of black people
Plus Captain America's Black History ! : The audio visual breakdown
Black British Civil Rights Heroes, 1596 to 2006
Thursday 29 September 6.30pm-9.00pm
The bias in schools gives the impression that racism and civil rights was an American issue and totally ignores the struggles Black British people endured. Schools and colleges will spend two weeks studying Rosa Parks and US segregationin the1950's but know nothing of the ban on black people working in Oxford street and living in cetain houses This interative presentation will provide the names and achievements of those black people born or resident here that fought against British racism over the last 400 years. Includes Ottobah Cuguano, Robert Wedderburn, Olaudah Equiano, Phyllis Wheatley, Learie Constantine, Mavis Best, Dame Jocelyn Barrow, virginity testing for immigration puroses, deaths in custody, Saturday schools and much more. We will use the BFI Mediateque film resources to show extraordinary scenes of black society since 1906 www.blackhistorywalks.co.uk
"Simply astonishing from start to finish !!"
Found in a basement these are 40 year old never-before-seen interviews with Angela Davis, Stokely Carmichael, Huey P Newton, Kathleen Cleaver, Eldridge Cleaver, Harry Belafonte, Bobby Seale, Minister Farrakhan. Also featuring Erykah Badu, Talib Kweli and Mario Van Peebles.
See Trailer here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFWHNpfjByQ
The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975 is unique. It gathers together a treasure trove of original film footage produced for Swedish television and shot in the US during that tempestuous period of American history, when the Black Power movement, anti-Vietnam-war protests, rebellious students, and a general resistance to authority captured the attention of the world — especially in Sweden, where in the words of filmmaker Göran Hugo Olsson, documentary-makers reacted "with a combination of commitment and naïveté" to the upheavals across the Atlantic.
The gift Olsson's doc gives us is to see ourselves as others see us. The "global perspective" makes even the most over-analyzed events seem fresh. And so when Stokely Carmichael and Angela Davis calmly and persuasively explain their discontent with the enigma that is America, we can listen to them with different ears, through that Swedish filter. Assembled by Olsson from archival sources, Mixtape presents the kind of news reports we very seldom saw in the US in those days, particularly on TV. The Swedes' point of view is intriguing because they don't have the same preconceptions as Americans. That distance, however, did not protect Sweden's state-run TV from being labeled as "anti-American" by none other than TV Guide. (Indeed, that Scandinavian country's skepticism of official American policy was a sore point with Washington — in 1972, when Prime Minister Olof Palme publicly denounced the US bombing of Hanoi, the US State Department angrily froze diplomatic relations with Sweden for more than a year.)
The filmmakers, who include co-producer Danny Glover, added a 2011 commentary track from people inspired by the era, among them singers Erykah Badu and Harry Belafonte, hip-hop artist Talib Kweli, and actor/director Melvin Van Peebles. Amir "Questlove" Thompson's music soundtrack is superb. But the voices from the past are what really count. This is the first time most of us have had a chance to hear Carmichael, Eldridge Cleaver, and radical filmmaker Emile de Antonio (In the Year of the Pig, Point of Order), who offers a scathing summation of the political situation. We visit Oakland, Harlem, and Hallandale, Florida, and listen to returned Vietnam vets, Malcolm X, attorney William Kunstler, performer Abiodun Oyewole of the Last Poets, and Lewis Michaux, the proprietor of an African-American bookshop. These are the men and women Richard Nixon, J. Edgar Hoover, and the networks didn't want us to know about.
The 16mm footage is beautiful — that grainy, fast film conveys immediacy differently than digital — and filmmaker Olsson's intentions are beyond reproach. In his "Director's Notes," he states: "The people in the film changed the world for the better. Not only for black people in America, or any marginalized group, but for all people." Catch The Black Power Mixtape before it slips away.
Black History Walks www.blackhistorywalks.co.uk will be arranging several Community Premieres of this fantastic film with Q and A's with Black British Civil Rights activists of the 1960's and 70's. Check schedule below for details, some need booking in advance, some are pay-on-the-door so please check before coming down.
Friday 28 Oct 6.30 Kensington Library Theatre, Phillimore Walk, off High St Kensington Online booking only £8.00 from http://www.wegottickets.com/event/136395
Great Films at Cottons Caribbean Restaurant
70 Exmouth Market, Islington EC1
Tube: Angel
Pay on the door. £7.00 First come, first served.
Black History Walks is happy to work with Cottons Caribbean Restaurant to showcase excellent African/Caribbean films and excellent African/Caribbean food. We will be having regular screenings at this luxurious and intimate venue so not only can you enjoy the best in black cinema but you can also sample the delicious weekend buffet
Whether you're in the mood for their famous Curried Goat, delicious Jerk Chicken or a mouthwatering piece of fish, their head chef, Andrew McIntosh, winner of the Caribbean Masterchef Award 2001, serves up an exquisite mix of traditional and fushion meals showcasing the wonders of the Caribbean at their finest.
Film Schedule : Sunday 20 November 2-5pm Black Power Mixtape
Sat 17 December 1.30pm to 5pm
BFI Southbank, Belvedere Road
Tube: Waterloo
A brand new documentary on this reggae icon whose political lyrics inspired the black community through the 70’s and 80’s. His African consciousness and Rastafari teachings informed a new generation about Marcus Garvey, Paul Bogle and the spirit of resistance in the struggles against apartheid in Zimbabwe and the Sus laws in Brixton. Need to book in advanceThe documentary looks at the Rastafari movement at its peak in the 70s and incorporates personal footage and historical and contemporary testimonies
COMPLETE DIRECTOR'S CUT OF THE FILM WITH MORE INTIMATE REVELATIONS THAN WAS IN THE WORK- IN- PROGRESS VERSION...WITH A NEW SOUNDTRACK FROM THE WAILERS ASTON FAMILYMAN BARRETT.
Plus, Exodus: Finding Shelter (Italy 2011)
Dir Tommaso D'Elia and Silvia Bonanni. 55min. EST) A documentary following the fate of the Rototom Sunsplash, the largest Reggae festival in its search for new home.
Followed by a discussion.
Need to book in advance. Tickets at BFI Box Office 0207 928 3232 www.bfi.org.uk
£5