This Autumn black cinema will be celebrated at the mac Birmingham, showing a wide range of international and local talent.
Visitors to the cinema, in Cannon Hill Park, will have the opportunity to view comedy, classics, music-inspired and issue-based screenings alongside events from 14th October to 30th December 2016 as part of the British Film Institute (BFI) Black Star season.
Ian Sergeant, Cinema Producer at mac Birmingham, said:
“We are proud to be delivering a season of films, discussions and wider events to inform and entertain our audiences as part of Black Star.
“Whilst it is a celebration of the enormous wealth of black acting talent, local to international, past and present. It is also an opportunity to address key issues of diversity and representation on screen, which is at the heart of the BFI’s strategy, which mac wholeheartedly supports and welcomes.”
Ben Luxford, Head of UK Wide Audiences at BFI said:
“This collaboration with the BFI on the UK’s biggest-ever celebration of black screen acting talent promises a real treat for audiences.
“We’re eager to get going and bring Black Star to new audiences all over the UK, giving them the chance to watch some classics and seek out many new discoveries.”
23-year-old black film maker Idriss Assoumanou said:
“It’s good exposure for black artist and minority artists of different background too. I think it’s a step forward and is a good way to inspire both new and old creator to do more and brings a strong platform for black artists to show their talent.”
A full programme of events can be found on the mac’s Black Star webpage.
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Did you know that one of Britain’s finest film producers was a Brummie from 116 Summer Lane in Aston? Sir Michael Balcon’s father was a tailor in Aston, having fled the Russian Jewish pogroms in the 1870’s in Eastern Europe…..Balcon attended my school: George Dixon Grammar School for Boys (now George Dixon Academy in City Road, Edgbaston) from when it opened in 1906 until 1912.
Balcon worked for legendary Hollywood film mogul Louis B. Mayer in the 1920’s before becoming head of the Ealing Studios in London where he made the great British comedies: ‘Kind Hearts and Coronets’, ‘The Ladykillers’, ‘Passport to Pimlico’, ‘The Lavender Hill Mob’, and ‘Whiskey Galore’along with wartime propaganda films: ‘Went the Day Well?’ and ‘The Cruel Sea’
Balcon, whose grandson is triple Best Actor Oscar winner Daniel Day Lewis used the name of his old school George Dixon for the policeman character in his 1949 film: ‘The Blue Lamp’ where he is shot dead in a bungled East End cinema robbery.
PC George Dixon was reincarnated in 1952 for the very first BBC TV ‘police procedural’: ‘Dixon of Dock Green’ which was a fixture of the Saturday night BBC TV schedules until 1976 when the then Sergeant Dixon was too old to walk his tough East End Docklands beat.
Jack Warner: the actor who played George Dixon became famous for his greeting at the start of every show with his cheery greeting to the viewers: ‘Evenin’all’…….