UK Black History Month is the annual celebration of the history, achievements and contributions of Black people in the UK. It takes place in October every year and is a great opportunity to celebrate, learn and share Black stories.

With the important Black Lives Matter movement and recent events this year, it is integral to show, support and share Black stories and talent. Black History Month is a great opportunity to do this but it can be done throughout the year in all our ongoing programmes. Read through Inclusive Cinema’s invaluable Black Lives Matter resources.

Here is a selection of films new to the Booking Scheme featuring excellent Black talent and stories, many of which are available on the LIFT film package.

TONI MORRISON: THE PIECES I AM
An artful and intimate meditation on the life and works of the legendary storyteller and Nobel prize-winner. From her childhood in the steel town of Lorain, Ohio, to ʼ70s-era book tours with Muhammad Ali, from the front lines with Angela Davis to her own riverfront writing room — Toni Morrison leads an assembly of her peers, critics and colleagues on an exploration of race, America, history and the human condition as seen through the prism of her own literature. Inspired to write because no one took a “little black girl” seriously, Morrison reflects on her lifelong deconstruction of the master narrative.

TALKING ABOUT TREES
Ibrahim, Manar, Suleiman and Altayeb are the members of the Sudanese Film Club founded in 1989. Unable to make films for years, they decided to revive an old cinema. They are united not only by their love of cinema and their passionate desire to restore old films and draw attention to Sudanese film history once more, but also by the fact that they all enjoyed a film education outside Sudan.

ROCKS
Available to screen from 23 October 2020
Triple F-Rated
Rocks is a teenage girl with big dreams for the future, loyal fun friends and an adoring, though mischievous, little brother Emmanuel. Rocks enjoys school (as much as any teenager does) and lives a full vibrant life in East London with her team of London-centric female best friends. Rocks’ world is turned upside down when she returns from school to find her mum gone, having left some cash and a note offering little explanation except that she is sorry.

LES MISÉRABLES
Available to screen from 16 October 2020
Nominated for International Feature Film at the 2020 Academy Awards
Heavily influenced by the 2005 riots in Paris, Ladj Ly’s debut feature Les Misérables is set in the tough suburb of Montfermiel and follows police officer Stéphane (Damien Bonnard) who has recently joined a tactical police unit that patrols the poverty stricken streets of this area. Paired up with Chris and Gwada, who often employ questionable and unorthodox methods, he soon becomes aware of the simmering tensions between the different neighbourhood groups.

CLEMENCY
Available for physical and online screenings
Winner of the Grand Jury Award at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival
Triple F-Rated
Years of carrying out death row executions have taken a toll on prison warden Bernadine Williams. The emotional wedge in her marriage grows. Memories of a recently botched execution plague her daily. As she prepares to execute another inmate, Bernadine must confront the psychological and emotional demons her job creates, ultimately connecting her to the man she is sanctioned to kill.

WHITE RIOT
Rubika Shah’s energising film charts a vital national protest movement. Rock Against Racism (RAR) was formed in 1976, prompted by ‘music’s biggest colonialist’ Eric Clapton and his support of racist MP Enoch Powell. White Riot blends fresh interviews with queasy archive footage to recreate a hostile environment of anti-immigrant hysteria and National Front marches. As neo-Nazis recruited the nation’s youth, RAR’s multicultural punk and reggae gigs provided rallying points for resistance.