Ayo Akingbade

In 1982, Wim Wenders asked 16 of his fellow directors to speak on the future of cinema, resulting in the film Room 666. Now, 40 years later, in Cannes, director Lubna Playoust asks Wim Wenders himself and a new generation of filmmakers (James Gray, Rebecca Zlotowski, Claire Denis, Olivier Assayas, Nadav Lapid, Asghar Farhadi, Alice Rohrwacher and more) the same question: “is cinema a language about to get lost, an art about to die?”

A young filmmaker named Domino travels from the UK to New York City to hunt down funding for her new film. Harkening back to classic counter-cultural Big Apple films of the 70s and 80s, Keep Looking has a loose, jazzy feel that gives this simple narrative a hip freshness.

Acting as part ode and through a series of interpretations, Claudette’s Star depicts young artists considering with sheer wonder who is given a voice.

Accompanied by a lilting soundtrack, characters wander through London's concrete jungle as the narrator reflects on the current state of the city and her imagined future.

The future of social housing is threatened by the AC30 Housing Bill. Set in London's East End, a trio of art students are eager to raise awareness about their neighbourhood especially the lives of tenants and people who work on the estate.

Documentary about Ghanaian housing activist Dora Boatemah and the Angell Town community in Brixton, London fighting for better housing conditions. Central to her work was the right of tenants to vote on the future of their own estates. Dora died in 2001 at the age of 43.

Set in 1985 and the present day, the film explores and reflects on the often forgotten histories of black and brown community struggle in East London. The legacy of community and activist group, Newham Monitoring Project is spotlighted.

A short documentary on the gentrification of Hackney.

Faluyi follows Ife as she embarks on a meditative journey tracing familial legacy and mysticism within ancestral land. Shot on 16mm film in the Idanre Hills – a UNESCO World Heritage site in Ondo State, the birthplace of Akingbade’s parents – the film is an introspective contemplation of the artist’s own personal relationship with Nigeria. Panoramic views of bouldering hills surrounded by thick groves form the backdrop to a sensitive tale of loss and longing, turned hope and celebration.

Following a tragedy, a young woman assembles photos from her father’s archive to encourage the pursuit of being an artist.

On a flat cobbled seashore, a young woman follows the sunset and moonlight.

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A portrait of Elephant & Castle Shopping Centre in South London, a weekend before it permanently closed, after fifty-five years on September 24, 2020. Super 8mm transferred to HD file, colour, sound

Echoing the precarious times we live in, a newly commissioned documentary Fire In My Belly (2021) offers a compelling take on questions of home, community and crisis in the metropolitan city of London. (Whitechapel Gallery) HD video, colour, sound

It's the summer and talented teenager Afeni Omolade is on the cusp of leaving home to take up an offer to study History of Art at Cambridge University. However, the life she has always known in Hackney suddenly comes under threat.

"Okay, let’s talk about trees. Why are you so obsessed with them?" asks Akingbade, the filmmaker, of young artist Rafiki, whose artistic practice focuses on trees: their individuality and presence.

Shot on 35mm film, The Fist is an intimate portrait of a modernist style factory – the first Guinness brewery built outside of Ireland and the UK, located in Nigeria, 12 miles from the centre of Lagos on the Ikeja Industrial Estate. Completed in 1962, in the wake of Nigeria’s independence from Britain, the factory is a site where interwoven histories of industrialisation and labour are brought into focus. Observing the comings and goings of workers, and the factory’s assembly and packing lines, Akingbade perceptively highlights the deep-rooted politics embedded in the beverage’s production.

Super 8mm and HD video, colour, sound