Black Autonomy, Black Realities

Films exploring themes of Blackness, autonomy and the self.

sweet-thang zine presents Black Autonomy, Black Realities

Watch Zoe talk through sweet-thang's film choices

Alma's Rainbow

Ayoka Chenzira’s vital coming-of-age comedy about three Black women living in Brooklyn learning to embrace life and exercise their agency.

Comedy
Drama
1993
89 mins
Ayoka Chenzira

Dreamers

Two Nigerian migrants dare to imagine a vibrant future outside of their confinement at a British immigration removal centre.

Drama
2025
79 mins
Joy Gharoro-Akpojotor

Available in 4K

Pressure

Hailed as Britain's first black feature film, Pressure is a hard-hitting, honest document of the plight of disenchanted black youths in 1970s London.

Drama
1978
121 mins
Horace Ové

Young Soul Rebels

The Queen's Silver Jubilee beats to the sounds of Funkadelic, Sylvester and the O'Jays in Isaac Julien’s feature debut.

Drama
1991
105 mins
Isaac Julien

Black Joy

Ben, an innocent immigrant from a remote village in Guyana, arrives in Brixton and falls prey to an assortment of streetwise characters in Anthony Simmons' Palme d’Or nominated comic drama.

Comedy
Drama
1977
99 mins
Anthony Simmons

Daughters of the Dust

Dash’s groundbreaking Daughters of the Dust remains urgent and poetic and continues to resonate, inspiring Beyoncé’s iconic visual album Lemonade.

Drama
1991
112 mins
Julie Dash

Naked Acts

Bridgett M. Davis’s comedy about an aspiring young Black actress who lands her first major role, but there’s a big problem: it requires a nude scene.

Drama
1996
88 mins
Bridgett M. Davis

Burning an Illusion

Menelik Shabazz’s pioneering first feature traces the emotional and political growth of a young black couple in Thatcher’s London.

Drama
1982
102 mins
Menelik Shabazz

Palindromes

Todd Solondz’s casting of eight different actors of varying ages, genders and races to play the lead role of Aviva, makes for a truly original film.

Comedy
Drama
2004
100 mins
Todd Solondz