I heard about this festival by chance. The person who told me about it, incidentally heard about it by chance too! All the people I talked to hadn’t heard about it either. And this was quite a significant event because it was the Festival's 10th Anniversary plus it had a lot more British film directors this time around in a field that is usually dominated by American film makers. I think Bfm’s publicity department will need to rethink it's marketing strategy!
On Tuesday I went to the British Film Institute for the black short film awards, hosted by Tameka Epsom (of ‘Three Non Blondes’ fame). She was very funny, but had a tendency to go on….and on….
The films screened were,
1) ‘Much Ado About A Minor Ting’, directed by Jesse Lawrence, set in the gang culture of Ladbroke Grove. It was funny and exaggerated in some places, but disturbing for me as I watched the dangerous reality teenagers have to contend with daily. It won best cinematography award
2) ‘Survivor’ directed by Nicole Volavka – dealt with the subject of political refugees and the lingering trauma suffered by them. I could relate to this film because I was born a refugee - my parents could not go back to Uganda during Idi Amin’s regime. The film struck home for me because it related to people from the countries of Sudan and Rwanda - which border Uganda. People here have no empathy for the immigrants who have suffered tremendously. I cried afterwards– for the characters in the film or for myself... I'm not sure. It won best script award.
3) ‘Man, Broken’ directed by Pezhmaan Alinia, about a man’s grief after the murder of his child on the streets. This was about 5 minutes long and I couldn’t believe it when I saw the credits rolling. Personally I thought, it needed a bit more? I had to choke back a laugh when the director said that it took him 6 months to do the film. 6 MONTHS?
4) ‘Win, Lose or Draw’ directed by Lawrence Coke concerning the experiences of the first Jamaican arrivals in the 1960’s. It was a mix of documentary, interviews with people who had come over on the Windrush and drama. The audience picked it as their best film
5) ‘One Of Us’, directed by Clint Dyer concerning the dilemma of a boy choosing between his career and that of his close friends.
Interesting evening! The freebies were also quite good – books by black writers. Makes a refreshing change from hair products!
I wouldn’t be me, if I didn’t comment on the nice selection of good-looking Brothers in the house! Afterwards while we were mingling at Benugo’s bar, listening to the sounds of Blacktronica, I had to restrain myself from gushing.
I think I should attend events like these more often ;-)
