Horace Ové’s masterpiece “Pressure” is getting the spotlight treatment courtesy of Janus Films and the Brooklyn Academy of Music (Bam).
“Pressure” will screen for two weeks as part of the museum’s ode to Black British cinema. The program, titled “Uncharted Territories: Black Britain on Film, 1963-1986” will take place from May 3 through 7, leading up to the new 4K restoration of “Pressure,” widely regarded as the first Black British narrative feature film.
“Uncharted Territories” features rarely screened work from filmmakers of African and Caribbean heritage based in Britain. The series includes “Burning an Illusion,” directed by Menelik Shabazz (1981), John Akomfrah’s “Handsworth Songs” (1986), “Territories” directed by Isaac Julien (1984), and more. The festival is programmed by Ashley Clark.
Screenings of “Pressure” begin May 10 and will continue through May 23. Herbert Norville, Oscar James, and Frank Singuineau star in the feature that follows a London-born teen (Norville), who is the son of Trinidadian parents.
“Pressure” will screen for two weeks as part of the museum’s ode to Black British cinema. The program, titled “Uncharted Territories: Black Britain on Film, 1963-1986” will take place from May 3 through 7, leading up to the new 4K restoration of “Pressure,” widely regarded as the first Black British narrative feature film.
“Uncharted Territories” features rarely screened work from filmmakers of African and Caribbean heritage based in Britain. The series includes “Burning an Illusion,” directed by Menelik Shabazz (1981), John Akomfrah’s “Handsworth Songs” (1986), “Territories” directed by Isaac Julien (1984), and more. The festival is programmed by Ashley Clark.
Screenings of “Pressure” begin May 10 and will continue through May 23. Herbert Norville, Oscar James, and Frank Singuineau star in the feature that follows a London-born teen (Norville), who is the son of Trinidadian parents.
- 4/29/2024
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
The first British feature written and directed by a Black feature did not come, improbably and somehow, until 1976. This alone would make Horace Ove’s Pressure an object of some note; doubly so that it’s also the first to situate itself from the perspective of Black characters. Though largely unseen, the film is emerging into a new spotlight: its restoration will begin a rollout at Bam on Friday, May 10, courtesy Janus Films, ahead of which is an electrifying new trailer. (This engagement will be preceded by a series of films about Black Britain that begins on May 3.)
Here’s the synopsis: “Horace Ové’s fiction-film debut marks a watershed in the history of British cinema: the nation’s first feature to be written and directed by a Black filmmaker and the first to focus on the perspective of Black characters. Ové and novelist Sam Selvon’s gritty script centers...
Here’s the synopsis: “Horace Ové’s fiction-film debut marks a watershed in the history of British cinema: the nation’s first feature to be written and directed by a Black filmmaker and the first to focus on the perspective of Black characters. Ové and novelist Sam Selvon’s gritty script centers...
- 4/11/2024
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
Director who examined life in multicultural Britain in pioneering films such as Pressure, a defining work of black British cinema
Horace Ové, who has died aged 86, was the groundbreaking director of Pressure, the first full-length black British feature film, in 1975. Its release was delayed for several years by its backers at the British Film Institute, who feared that the scenes of police brutality might prove incendiary.
The picture charts with patience and fastidiousness the gradual political awakening of Anthony (Herbert Norville), an amiable African-Caribbean school-leaver. Living in west London with his traditionalist parents, he is torn between his white former classmates, who are getting on in a job market that is openly hostile to him, and his militant older brother, who castigates him for failing to adopt the black struggle as his own. It was a conflict that Ové, who arrived in Britain from Trinidad in 1960, knew only too well.
Horace Ové, who has died aged 86, was the groundbreaking director of Pressure, the first full-length black British feature film, in 1975. Its release was delayed for several years by its backers at the British Film Institute, who feared that the scenes of police brutality might prove incendiary.
The picture charts with patience and fastidiousness the gradual political awakening of Anthony (Herbert Norville), an amiable African-Caribbean school-leaver. Living in west London with his traditionalist parents, he is torn between his white former classmates, who are getting on in a job market that is openly hostile to him, and his militant older brother, who castigates him for failing to adopt the black struggle as his own. It was a conflict that Ové, who arrived in Britain from Trinidad in 1960, knew only too well.
- 9/17/2023
- by Ryan Gilbey
- The Guardian - Film News
A celebration of the pioneering films reflecting black life in Britain over the last 40 years
As UK Black Lives Matter protests roar, and the foulness of the Windrush scandal festers, it is a crucial time to dive into black British history. “Historic” certainly describes the first ever black British feature film: Horace Ové’s Pressure, an absorbing 1976 drama about the everyday struggles of a London-born son (Herbert Norville) of Trinidadian parents.
Amazon Prime Video/BFI Player (£)...
As UK Black Lives Matter protests roar, and the foulness of the Windrush scandal festers, it is a crucial time to dive into black British history. “Historic” certainly describes the first ever black British feature film: Horace Ové’s Pressure, an absorbing 1976 drama about the everyday struggles of a London-born son (Herbert Norville) of Trinidadian parents.
Amazon Prime Video/BFI Player (£)...
- 6/19/2020
- by Ashley Clark
- The Guardian - Film News
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