Directing
In the 1960s, British painter Francis Bacon surprises a burglar and invites him to share his bed. The burglar, a working class man named George Dyer, accepts. After the unique beginning to their love affair, the well-connected and volatile artist assimilates Dyer into his circle of eccentric friends, as Dyer's struggle with addiction strains their bond.
Days before his death, a Bengali man has a prophetic dream about his journey towards enlightenment.
Lord Have Mercy! features up-and-coming Canadian actor Arnold Pinnock as Youth Pastor Dwight Gooding. An ambitious but socially inept young minister who plans to make big changes at Mt. Zion, a church in the heart of Toronto's Caribbean community. But he must compete with the charismatic and easy-going Pastor Cuthbert Stevens (played by popular Trinidadian comic Dennis "Sprangalang" Hall) for the loyalty and attention of the eccentric church crew.
A hustler's journey into chaos to steal a car and his lady friends dream for peace from a painting, forces a crime that changes their lives forever.
Maisie Blue is an enigmatic black widow figure under investigation by detective Margrave for her involvement in the suicides of successful white men. Through the blurred lines of perception and reality, the myth of the Black feminine mystique is explored under the guise of a murder mystery. The film explores the fetishization of Black women as a manifestation of white male insecurity.
Set among a South Asian community in the north of England, the film follows the journey of a teenager after she is discovered by her father as having fallen passionately in love. The story follows youthful naïveté, heartbreak, reckoning, and courage against the hold of toxic patriarchy.
In the midst of the Canadian Black struggle of the 50s, Dehnam Jolly arrives in Toronto, bright eyed and optimistic. He rents a room from UNIA Vice President, Violet Williams who is struggling to keep the organization afloat and maintain the legacy of her idol, famed Black leader and saucy duppy, Marcus Garvey.
Speak Like a Child, the feature film debut of documentary director John Akomfrah, explores the intense friendship that evolves between three troubled teenagers growing up in an isolated children's home on the Northumbrian coast. The desolate beauty of the coastline is captured in stunning panoramas, while strong performances by the young cast help to create a lyrical and poignant drama.
Inspired by the life and times of Caribbean war hero, judge and diplomat Ulric Cross whose amazing life spanned key moments of the 20th Century like WW2, African independence movements, Black Power, the rise of a new brand of Black leadership around the world, events that define our present reality.
In 1943 300 middle class "coloured" women from across the West Indies were recruited to the ATS, a branch of the British Army. This documentary documents for the first time the contribution of these women to WW2.
Peggy wants to be married.......
Shots ring out one winter night, and a bullet meant for a local dealer kills a child. In the aftermath of shock, Gene, a 40 something social worker starts a Black men's support group, at the local Caribbean Takeaway Restaurant.
Using a blend of magic realism and realist drama, Memsahib Rita looks at the physical and emotional violence of racism. Shanti is haunted by both the racist taunts of nationalist white youths and the memory of her white mother.
A drama/dance adaptation of a collection of poems by Grace Nichols. By drawing on elements of African culture, it tells of a spiritual journey of an African woman taken in captivity to the Caribbean, her experiences as a slave, and how she survives being uprooted from her native land. Dramatised sequences are interspersed with Grace Nichol's comments about her poems, placed in the context of Afro-Caribbean history.
Jesse, a young woman from England, goes to Trinidad to bury her father. Reluctantly she agrees to meet her mother, whom she thought had abandoned her when she was a child. Her mother tells her stories, revealing a troubled and violent marriage, and Jesse is forced to face the truth about her past.
Syanna, a young female slave must defeat her masters and bring down their Machiavellian empire in a futuristic world where plantations are video games and where slaves are gamers.
