The Programme
Monday 4 October, 17.45
All tickets £6.50
Dido Elizabeth Belle, the illegitimate mixed-race daughter of a navy admiral, was raised by her aristocratic great-uncle and his wife in eighteenth century England. A rare example of a British costume drama with a Black female lead, Gugu Mbatha-Raw and directed by BAFTA award-winning writer and director, Amma Asante who delivers pointed education on slavery in this true story of Britain’s first Black aristocrat.
The screening will be followed by a panel discussion*. Reflecting on what Belle represents to us today, the guest panel will discuss Black experience of class and the significance of Black expression and representation.
This screening will be Captioned, and the introduction and post-film panel discussion will be BSL interpreted and Live Captioned, making the event accessible to our D/deaf and Hard of Hearing audiences.
Panel:
Shantel George is Lecturer in Transatlantic Slavery at the University of Glasgow. Shantel has been awarded fellowships at the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance and Abolition, and the John Carter Brown Library for her second project on the global history of the African kola nut.
Tawona Sithole is a poet, playwright, musician and academic with a keen interest in creativity as a means of connecting people.
Graham Campbell is Chair of Africa in Motion Film Festival board of Trustees and has been an elected member of Glasgow City Council in May 2017. He is also a cultural performer and producer in dub poetry and reggae calypso and ska music.
Daniella Faakor Damptey is a Ghanaian-Scottish artist. At 19 years old, she is in her final year of training at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (RCS) and will be graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in Musical Theatre.
Monday 11 October, 18.00
All tickets £6.50
Made in 1978, David Koff’s insurrectionary film Blacks Britannica was banned in its day, labelled dangerous, untrue, and extreme. This hard-hitting documentary on racism and resistance in Britain was immediately subjected to suppression, censorship and a US court battle that lasted more than three years. Made in the heat of 1970s militant Black British anti-racist struggle, it discusses the history of Black people in Britain since the era of colonialism, which led to mass migration to the UK. In a time in which the film describes the Black community as being ‘the new underclass’ of the British working class, Blacks Britannica is a significant entry into the canon of documentations of the lives of Black People in Britain. This screening will be of the authorised version, digitally remastered in 2008.
The screening will be followed by a panel discussion*. Reflecting on the significance of Blacks Britannica within a Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement and human-rights context, the guest panel will discuss Black British experience and the impacts of racism.
Panel:
Mary Osei-Oppong is a mother, teacher, an advocate for diversity in the teaching profession, published author and human rights campaigner.
Tawona Sithole is a poet, playwright, musician and academic with a keen interest in creativity as a means of connecting people.
Graham Campbell is Chair of Africa in Motion Film Festival board of Trustees and has been an elected member of Glasgow City Council since May 2017. He is also a cultural performer and producer in dub poetry, reggae calypso and ska music.
Ndaye Lisa Badji (She/Her) is the head of advocacy and partnerships at Intercultural Youth Scotland, Scotland’s leading charity for BPoC young people.
Monday 18 October, 19.45
All tickets £6.50
Judas and the Black Messiah is a 2021 American biographical drama film directed by Shaka King depicting events taking place in late-1960’s Chicago that led to the betrayal and assassination of Fred Hampton (Daniel Kaluuya), chairman of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party. When offered a plea deal by the FBI, William O’Neal (Lakeith Stanfield) becomes an informant and infiltrates the Illinois chapter to gather intelligence on Fred Hampton.
This screening will be followed by a panel discussion*. Reflecting on what Judas and the Black Messiah represents in 21st Century Britain, the guest panel will discuss Black radicalism in America and Black activism in the UK.
Panel:
Nelson Cummins is Communities and Campaign Officer at Coalition for Racial Equality and Rights (CRER).
Tawona Sithole is a poet, playwright, musician and academic with a keen interest in creativity as a means of connecting people.
Christopher D. Reid is an author and freelance writer with degrees in Political Science and Philosophy. He is currently working on a documentary that chronicles the history of black radicalism in America.
Roza Salih is an original Glasgow Girl, Human Rights defender, and strong believer in equality and diversity.
Monday 25 October, 19.00
All tickets £2
To complement our Black History Month programme, join us for a public industry session exploring the history of Black cinema in the UK. We’ll be joined by local filmmakers including Lorna King and Stewart Kyasimire, along with academics, to discuss issues of access and representation in front of and behind the camera. Our panel* will also touch on how these issues relate to the films in our Black Histories on Film programme, and what support is available for new Black filmmakers working in the UK today.
Panel: *Panel speakers to be announced
This programme is supported by Film Hub Scotland, part of the BFI’s Film Audience Network, and funded by Screen Scotland and National Lottery funding from the BFI.
gft, 12 Rose Street, Glasgow G3 6RB
Publisher of Pat's Guide to Glasgow West End; the community guide to the West End of Glasgow. Fiction and non-fiction writer.
