A Short Film about Jazz

Director: Corine Dhondee

Year: 2019

Exploring Oscar and BAFTA-nominated cinematographer Bradford Young's early works - Outlining Young’s location within a lineage of visual artists who he always claims as inspirations as well as echo chambers, and who are actively formulating a new black aesthetics. (liquid blackness)

Director: Corine Dhondee

Year: 2011

Peter Edwards is one of Britain's most promising jazz arrangers. His dream is to perform Duke Ellington's Queen's Suite (which was written in 1959 for the current British Monarch) to the Queen at the Queen Elizabeth Hall. We follow Peter as he puts together his band, rehearses them and negotiates with Buckingham Palace. The film provides a unique and intimate insight into the background and career of an exceptional musician.

Director: Jake J Smith

Year: 2026

For the first time in 30 years, a film crew gains rare access to Pennsylvania’s maximum-security women’s prisons. Inside, The Lady Lifers – a band led by former soul singer Naomi Blount – turn grief into music and defiance. Though Naomi never took a life, she is serving life without parole. To have any hope of freedom, she must express guilt she does not feel – a cruel paradox of the justice system. As her music echoes beyond the prison walls and reaches the public, lawmakers and activists, the question remains: Will her voice be enough to finally set her free - and to free those she left behind? Official Selection Durban International Film Festival 2026