Subscription
Tigritudes: A Pan-African Film Cycle
A taster collection of works from the chronological anthology of Pan-African cinema.
Africa and its diaspora are rich in diverse and powerful film cultures, despite the heavy legacy of colonialism on the structuring of their cultural industries and the significant challenges faced by artists in producing cinema on the continent. Yet these cinemas remain largely unknown. Tigritudes offers a broad, accessible and eclectic programme to share the range, inventiveness and vitality of a moving-image culture afflicted by chronic international under-distribution. Across 60 years of production, this season articulates works that have continued to unfold with an unprecedented plurality of styles, themes and languages. The cycle opens up a vast field of reflection, traversing entire swathes of history and narratives, questioning reality and its representations, deconstructing the imaginaries surrounding it: aesthetic, ethical, and political. We are delighted to present a small selection from this project, part of a wider celebration at BFI Southbank in June-July 2024 and previously screened in France and across the African continent.
- Dyana Gaye and Valérie Osouf, filmmakers and season curators
RageRage
Drama200093 minsDirector: Newton Aduaka
A frustrated Peckham youth turns to crime to finance his music career in Newton Aduaka’s highly charged feature debut; once acclaimed as 'the British La Haine'.
PressurePressure
Drama1978121 minsDirector: Horace Ové
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; now available in its new restoration.
Bless Their Little HeartsBless Their Little Hearts
Drama198386 minsDirector: Billy Woodberry
Nuanced marital drama directed by Billy Woodberry and written by Charles Burnett (Killer of Sheep), who also shot the film in his characteristically sublime black and white style.
Mambar PierretteMambar Pierrette
Drama202394 minsDirector: Rosine Mbakam
Rosine Mbakam’s feature debut focuses on a week in the life of a working-class Cameroonian who strives against all odds to make ends meet.
PumziPumzi
Science Fiction201022 mins
Kenya’s first science-fiction film takes a dazzling trip into a post-apocalyptic world in which water has almost run out.
FlavioFlavio
Documentary196411 minsDirector: Gordon Parks
Photographer Gordon Parks’ remarkable film depicts a day in the life of an industrious 12-year-old boy living in the impoverished favela slums of Rio de Janeiro.