Pastoral Malaise

Director: Ufuoma Essi

Year: 2023

A meditation on the continuing history and emancipatory potential of the Black church as a space of diasporic belonging, affirmation and community organising. The film examines churches as spaces of 'infrapolitics' by exploring the sonic, political, spiritual and existential connections between specific communities. Official Selection Black Star Film Festival 2023 Official Selection Hot Docs Festival 2023 Official Selection International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) 2024

Director: Konadu Gyamfi

Year: 2023

Konadu Yiadom Gyamfi takes a poetry-led journey through Ghana and the experience of female welder Stella A true story captured through poetry, director and poet Konadu Yiadom Gyamfi follows the journey of Stella, a female welder from Uganda. Shot in Ghana, the film showcases the profound impact of faith in guiding her towards success in a world that often challenges her path as a woman. “There are so many diverse and captivating stories to be explored within this beautiful and complex continent but we don’t often hear the stories of women from their own mouths. Platforming stories like Stella’s is how we start moving forward in portraying Africa and its people.” Defying expectations through her resilience and passionate dedication to her craft, Stella transcended early challenges she faced by entering into a program for young women, now a working welder in spite of societal beliefs regarding women’s roles. Evolving over several months of close collaboration between Stella and Gyamfi, the film illustrates Stella's life and the local landscape through insightful conversations tracing her path into welding, lensing a remarkable reality that confronts narratives on African women that strip away their agency.

Director: Helen Anna Flanagan

Year: 2025

Burnt Toast is a contemporary ghost story that resurrects legendary British comedian Tommy Cooper, who famously died mid-performance in 1984. Blending machine learning, VHS footage, archival materials, and a trained impersonator, the film follows Phil, an unemployed magician trapped in the decaying home of the director’s late schizophrenic uncle. Phil’s hallucinatory act navigates the alienation of late capitalism, touching on social class, identity, mental health, and delusion—all punctuated by his trademark jokes and failed magic tricks.