Black Cinema Project
Samra Mayanja and I set up this evolving space to bring people together with care, to meaningfully watch and discuss Black films and the landscape they are situated within. We felt the need to engage deeper and further into Black and African film in order to help make sense of ourselves and our place in the world. We became intensely curious about the barriers in place to screen these films and their limited access points. This project has evolved into film programmes and discussions nationally and internationally that explore what activism looks like within the film exhibition and distribution sector.
Black Cinema Project returned on 18 Jan 2024 to screen the incredible Chocolate Babies (1996) at Wharf Chambers in original BCP style with post-film luscious chats. Thanks to everyone who came and shared, it was *chefs kiss*
Women’s Stories from the Global South (& To Whom They Belong) on tour!
July 2022 - January 2023, Funded by BFI
This five film programme originally screened at Cinema Rediscovered Festival in Bristol in July 2022 (see below), has been funded by BFI to tour to UK cinemas and festivals, expanding the reach to audiences across the country. I have been lucky enough to go to some of these events to introduce the film and have fascinating discussions on global south archive cinema and barriers to access. Tour venues include:
Barbican, London (31 Jul)
Filmhouse, Edinburgh (24 Aug – 1 Sep)
BFI Southbank, London (3 Sep)
Depot, Lewes (25 Sep)
Showroom, Sheffield (4 Oct – 5 Nov)
Trowbridge Townhall, Trowbridge (7 Oct)
QFT, Belfast (18 Oct)
ICA, London (19 – 27 Oct)
Hyde Park Picture House, and partner venues in Leeds (from 1 Nov)
MAC Birmingham (15 – 29 Jan)
FilmBath Festival, Oden, Bath (10 Nov)
Afrika Eye, Watershed, Bristol (13 Nov)
Havana Glasgow Film Festival, Glasgow Film Theatre (13 November)
Africa in Motion, Contemporary Centre for the Arts, Glasgow (18 Nov)
Read about it in this article in The British Blacklist:
https://thebritishblacklist.co.uk/tbb-talks-to-film-curator-mosa-mpetha/
Women’s Stories from the Global South (& To Whom They Belong) at Cinema Rediscovered Film Festival
July 2022
It has been a pleasure to work closely with Darragh Amelia and Jesse Gerard of Tanzanian film collective, Ajabu Ajabu to present five recently digitised or restored works from the Global South that are written by and about women: Sambizanga (Angola), Maangamizi (Tanzania), Door to the Sky (Morocco), De Cierta Manera (Cuba) and Araya (Venezuela). Surrounding each film from this selection exists a uniquely challenging story of ownership and distribution, opening up discussion around the imbalance of power within film cultures perpetuated globally and locally — particularly imposed upon female storytellers and hindering open and inclusive access to their narratives.
In addition, Global Women’s Film Heritage project held a networking lunch on Thursday 21 July focusing on African and Arab, Latin American and Asian women’s absences and presences in the global film archives. It was an honour to be a part of this discussion on how we might make women and their films more visible alongside Carmen Thompson, Sarah Maldoror’s daughter Annouchka De Andrade, and June Givanni.
Maangamizi & The Art of Return --- A Case Study on Restitution of Film Heritage via Informal Distribution at Radical Film Network Conference, Genoa
16 June 2022
A continuation of the collaboration with Darragh Amelia of Tanzanian film collective, Ajabu Ajabu. This conference presentation was an opportunity to share the redistribution work for the film Maangamizi and the questions it raises around Restoration, Restitution and Reinperpretation of African film. We posed the following questions to the delegation and had fascinating and radical group discussions.
How can we challenge hierarchies in film culture & redefine ownership
How can we re-structure distribution that emphasizes access
How can we foster open and inclusive (re)interpretation of cinema
Unseen Histories: BFI Shorts
5 & 19 September 2021
As part of ‘Unseen Histories’ festival exploring Black British history in Leeds, we screened Springtime in an English Village (1944), Flight of the Swan (1992), Home Away From Home (1993), Jemima and Johnny (1966) and We Are Poets (2012). This programme reflected on the often unseen experiences of Black children and young people in the UK in film.
At Heritage Cinema in the Leeds Industrial Museum, in partnership with Hyde Park Picture House, Assembly House and Heritage Corner.
Watchalongs
May 2020 to March 2021
Black Cinema Project started by hosting online curated programmes, exclusively for Black people to watch and discuss films in a safe and nourishing space in which we shared our our varied thoughts, experiences, wisdom and energy. We also took deep pleasure in interrogating films over time, revisiting them and respecting the amount time that was taken to make them. Not just watching and moving on.
Season 1: Early African Cinema
Sambizanga (1972), Yeelen (1987), Muna Moto (1975)
Season 2: Outside Looking In
Kmêdeus (2020), Song of Freedom (1936), 7 Shorts by Womxn, Soleil Ô (1967), Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One (1968), Edouard Glissant: One World in Relation (2009)
Season 3: ‘School trips’ to Africa in Motion Festival
As I Open My Eyes (2015), Supa Modo (2018), This is Not A Burial, it is a Resurrection (2019), Khartoum Offside (2019), Series of shorts, Air Conditioner (2020)
International Women’s Day March 2021
Neria (1991) hosted by Dr Kendi Guantai.
