Black History Month 2024 at Showroom Cinema
Tom Grieve, Cinema Editor
To mark Black History Month this October, Sheffield’s Showroom Cinema present a selection of film and events based around the theme, ‘Intergenerational Fusion: Empowering Black Minds’. The idea is to highlight the ways in which Black and diaspora communities build on the work and wisdom of previous generations, and how best to go about constructing a foundation for future generations to thrive.
With that in mind, the opening day events on Saturday 5 October include a family friendly showing of the 2023 version of The Little Mermaid led by rising star Halle Bailey, alongside a screening of Sarah Gavron’s electric 2020 coming-of-age comedy Rocks, which focuses on a group of teenage girls growing up in a multi-ethnic community in East London. The latter film will be accompanied by a an opportunity to grab drinks and chat with members of the community who have contributed to the Black History Month programme, as well as an introduction from Showroom’s Communities Co-ordinator, Chim’Di Ugada and a performance by local poet SHALdo.
On Saturday 12 October, a British Classics Double Bill takes in Horace Ové’s 1986 comedy of manners Playing Away, about a West Indian cricket team from Brixton who are invited to play a charity match in a rural English village. That’s joined by Amma Asante’s 2013 period drama Belle, which fills in unknown history by fictionalising the life of Dido Elizabeth Belle, the subject of a famous 18th century oil painting, and illegitimate mixed-race daughter of Sir John Lindsay.
on Friday 11 October, there’s a Behind the Lens: POC Networking Event which aims to provide an “environment where people of colour (POC) in production can connect, collaborate, and uplift each other.”
There’s an opportunity to revisit the 2006 film The Last King of Scotland on Saturday 19 October. Starring Forest Whittaker as Idi Amin, alongside James McAvoy as the dictator’s personal physician and confidant, the film screens in partnership with Alpha and Omega CIC in celebration of Ugandan Independence Day, with an introduction contextualising the film and its presentation here.
From South Africa, artist-turned-filmmaker Milisuthando Bongela’s personal, poetic essay documentary Milisuthando is concerned with what it means to be human in the context of race. The doc screens on Tuesday 22 October in a presentation by T A P E Collective, with a Q&A from the director herself. While there’s more documentary from South Africa on Monday 28 October with Miki Redelinghuys and Pearlie Joubert new film Mother City, a David and Goliath story about how activists and domestic workers take on property power and politics in Cape Town.
As mentioned, the Black History Month programming at Showroom is concerned with helping build a platform for the next generation. With that in mind, on Friday 11 October, there’s a Behind the Lens: POC Networking Event which aims to provide an “environment where people of colour (POC) in production can connect, collaborate, and uplift each other.” Then, to close the season, Utopia Theatre and Showroom Cinema present a special screening from the Nu-Roots Young Black Film Curators — a group undertaking an 8-week film curation programme — on Saturday 2 November.
