Projects in genres: Black

Synopsis

Hip 'street' teenagers in West London - 24 hours in the life of inner-city adolescents.
 

Synopsis

Set against the backdrop of London's urban music scene, Life and Lyrics follows the journey of a south London DJ, Danny, and his crew as they battle on stage with their north London rivals. Life & Lyrics is also a story of unrequited love as Danny unwittingly falls for a singer from the rival crew, soon forced to realise the dangers and implications involved.

Synopsis

Raymond and Tagbo met when they were eight. Although from radically different worlds - Raymond (Rag) is from a single-parent West Indian home, while Tagbo (Tag) is the only son of middle-class Nigerian parents - they remain inseparable until the beginning of their teens when Social Services take Rag away from London. Ten years later, Rag returns to find Tag. They still want to be together. But now 23, their need has shifted into something more urgent and consuming.
Other things have changed too. Tag is just finishing law school and discovering how hard it is to find a position. Tag also has a white girlfriend, and since her impressive credentials aren't even good enough for Tag's father, Rag doesn't stand a chance. Rag sees even less room for himself in Tag's life when Tag's friend Olisa flies into London. Young, rich and shady, Rag knows Olisa is trouble. When Rag and Tag are invited to Nigeria for Olisa's chieftaincy ceremony, Rag is determined to save Tag from his machinations.

In this tale of family, friendship and love, everyone has to discover a definition of what these things mean to them. Then stake their future on it.

Synopsis

Homosexuality is one of Africa's last great taboos. In South Africa, homophobia is being 'expressed' through targeted rape of black lesbians.
Four extraordinary women expose harrowing experiences and the struggles of African lesbians. Rape for Who I am is their courageous refusal to become victims of their sexuality.

Synopsis

An immigrant resorts to desperate measures while living in London, in a bid to convince his family back home that he is living the rich life they expect of him.

Synopsis

Selected for Cannes 2005, festival favourite Kim Longinotto's latest work (co-directed with Florence Ayisi) is a totally fascinating - often hilarious - look at the work of one small courthouse in south-west Cameroon.

The two women at the heart of the documentary wouldn't be out of place in an Alexander McCall Smith bestseller. As the State Counsel and Court President, they dispense wisdom, wisecracks and justice in fair measure. The victims of crime - an abused child, a woman daring to accuse a man of rape, and another trying to end a brutal marriage in a society where divorce is taboo - are handled with fierce compassion. You'll feel like cheering when justice is served. (Sydney Film Festival)

Synopsis

The story of the Gospels re-told as a tale of corruption and redemption in contemporary Africa. The narrative unveils a portrait of a man of our time whose currency is the politics of compassion. It is a gripping journey of love, deception and betrayal in a conflicted society.

Synopsis

The Trousseau is a moving story of a young British woman Ama, who returns to her birthplace in Ghana after receiving news of her mother's sudden death. She is met by her three stern clanswomen who doubt very much if she capable of taking the place of her frail grandmother during the funeral preparations.

Defying tradition she proves them wrong and begins to find expression of her grief in the ritual preceding the funeral, ensuring that her mother appears in death as she did in life.

Synopsis

Tree Fellers is the story of the 900 Belizean lumberjacks who in 1942 left the tropical rainforests of British Honduras to help Britain fight fascism by felling trees in Scotland. Sam (93), Eric (87) and Amos (86) were among those who stayed on after the war to make new lives in a country where, for better or worse, the colour of their skin marked them out. Newly discovered archive, long-cherished memories and a last reunion are intertwined in this lyrical and moving documentary testament.

Synopsis

Based on the book by acclaimed author and playwright Athol Fugard, this deeply affecting film traces six days in the life of a ruthless young gang leader who shoots a woman outside her home and steals her car, unaware, in his panic, that her baby is in the back seat. Pumping with the high energy of Zola's 'Kwaito' music, Tsotsi is an extraordinary and gritty contemporary portrait of ghetto life set amidst the sprawling Johannesburg townships.
 

Synopsis

This debut feature film, written, choreographed and directed by its leading man, the black dancer Rodreguez King-Dorset, shows a creative dance artist in a desperate search for identity in a white-dominated country.
The film depicts the lives of two boys in England in the 1980s, one a newly arrived African, the other an Afro-Caribbean, and highlights the ethnic tensions between their respective groups. The young black Briton, Lewis, has to face scorn and misunderstanding from his father when he tries to become a professional dancer. Lewis has a close friendship with the African, Ramsey, and a rewarding relationship with an Afro-Caribbean girlfriend, Maudi. His African friend is imprisoned for a killing he was forced into in sheer self-defence, and this only adds to Lewis’s confusion. He sets out to create a solo dance, which embodies some of his emotions.
Finally he shows himself being questioned by an external examiner in the final stages of his thesis for a DPhil. He makes a spirited defence of his views to a sceptical examiner and the film shows in flashbacks some of what is going on in his head as he formally protests to his examiner.

Synopsis

As a young couple discuss the idea of giving up smoking, the sounds of a neighbouring argument spill into their flat. The argument makes them question their own marriage, while doing nothing about the neighbouring situation.

Meanwhile, a young teenager argues with his mother as he tries to sneak out to a party with friends. His mother blackmails him into staying home, using his guilt against him.