Black Audio Film Collective Screening
A celebration of some of our favourite BAFC films.
**Tickets officially launch on February 14 at 10AM**
In partnership with TIFF, we’re running a screening of two of the most beloved BAFC films:
Handsworth Songs (1986)
58:33 min.
Originally commissioned by UK’s Channel 4, Black Audio Film Collective’s film essay Handsworth Songs builds an immersive experience of the oppressive environment that led to the riots and unrest in Handsworth, Birmingham and across the country in the 1980s. With its lyrical blend of contemporary news footage, archival film, interviews, music, and poetry, the film takes an open and critical stance that questions the state’s official narrative about the riots. Instead, it traces the systemic violence, poverty, and repression that came with the broken promises made to the Black and South Asian diaspora of the Windrush generation and continues to haunt the persisting climate of racial tension and police brutality.
The Last Angel of History (1996)
45:08 min
Directed by John Akomfrah and written by Edward George, Black Audio Film Collective’s speculative documentary The Last Angel of History traces the musical legacy of Afrofuturism from its precursory origins of drumming during the Transatlantic Slave Trade through to the projections of a digital future in techno and jungle, and everything in between. Drawing on the figure of Walter Benjamin’s Angelus Novus, the film follows the temporal travels of the nomadic Data Thief (played by George), who jumps from past to present — combing through interviews with George Clinton, Juan Atkins, Carl Craig, and Goldie — to find the Mothership Connection to the future.
Following the screenings will be a short Q&A with Edward George and Seance Centre’s Brandon Hocura.
Film notes written by Vicky Wong,
About
The Black Audio Film Collective (BAFC), founded in 1982 and active until 1998, comprised seven Black British and diaspora multimedia artists and filmmakers. This pioneering arts initiative produced ground-breaking experimental works engaged with black popular and political culture in Britain and the black / Asian Diasporas.
Brandon Hocura is a sound artist, filmmaker, writer, and archivist. He is the founder and creative director of the record label and publisher Séance Centre and the archival director of the Siren Recordings Sonic Poetry Archive.
ACCESSIBILITY INFO
TIFF Lightbox is wheelchair accessible.
If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to reach out to matthew@musicgallery.org.
COVID POLICY
We strongly encourage masking at all times. For our full policy, click here.
SAFER SPACE
We expect all attendees and community members to respect one another, and to respect the work that was created for you to explore. We will not tolerate harm or harmful behaviour of any kind. View our policy here.
