Black History Film Screenings

Join our mailing list to keep up to date with the latest Black films. Black History Walks curates powerful African diaspora films all year long. Come down to one of our 18 year old Odysseys monthly film and Q&A sessions. BHW was Activist in Residence at UCL Sarah Parker Remond Centre (2021)

Our Black history walks and tours link directly to films as people often want more information after doing a walk .2025 marks 18 years of our monthly African Odysseys film shows. It is the only such programme in the country and  presently under threat due to racism.To add your name to the 16,000 strong petition to keep it, click HERE . Read our book ‘Black History Walks in London Volume 1′ for a brief history of Black film exhibition HERE

Watch trailers, read reviews and book your place at venues such as the Phoenix Cinema in East Finchley and the British Film Institute (BFI) in Southbank or sometimes online.

Our film showings are often accompanied by talks, workshops and Q&As. For those seriously into film history our 13 year archive of previously shown films is an excellent resource for fans looking for their next movie on Black history

Black History Walks has over 20 years’ experience managing film exhibitions and talks. The African Odysseys film programme at the British Film Institute was the only one of its kind in the country until recently when they decided to make the co-founder redundant as well as delete the 48 week  post that enabled the films to be produced. In protest,  BHW launched a petition, now at 16,000, requesting the decisions be reversed and a Race Equality Impact Assessment be run. Despite 20 race equality experts supporting the petition, the BFI refused to even discuss the issue for three months and then sabotaged the only meeting on the issue, cancelling it, without consultation, two hours before it was due to start HERE. The programme has proven hugely successful over the last 18 years and has created an impressive archive of general history, film history and recorded Q&As with directors, actors and producers.
You can see some of our recorded post film Q&As on our Youtube page here.
Join our free mailing list to receive notifications about upcoming films and film events in the city.

Upcoming & Past Films

Saturday 10th May 5pm

African Odysseys in association with Kush films Presents: SINNERS: watch trailer HERE A Deep Bite into The Cultural Significance of This Ground-breaking Phenomenon Trying to leave their troubled lives behind, twin brothers return to their Mississippi hometown to start again,

Wednesday May 28th 6.30pm

Film on renowned director Ken Loach and Jeremy Corbyn MP as they consider the myths that have been spread about them in mainstream media Bad Patriots plus Q&A with director Victor Fraga Watch teaser here HERE Mainstream media bestowed some

Saturday 21st June 2pm

Watch trailer HERE an African Odysseys screening “Reclaiming Cocoa” reveals the layers of the complex chocolate industry, taking viewers from the lush cocoa farms of Ghana to the posh chocolate stores in Switzerland – whose famous chocolate consists mostly of

Friday April 25th 6pm

Secret agents from London go to South Africa to fight for Mandela against Apartheid, risking life and limb in the fight for racial equality Watch trailer here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKcW12xH7pA&t=72s A special screening of the documentary “London Recruits” and a live Q&A

May 17th 2pm

How the USA used Black American music and stars to undermine African independence in the 1960s. Soundtrack to Coup d’etat plus Q&A. Watch trailer here United Nations, 1960: the Global South ignites a political earthquake, jazz musicians Abbey Lincoln and

Since June 2024

The British Film Institute (BFI) plans a redundancy that would end the 17-year-old African Odysseys programme. Sign the petition to save it HERE African Odysseys was set up in 2007 by Black community activists who were already showing films at

Saturday 11th January 2pm

Watch trailer here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RwLdIiZk_8 This maybe the final African Odysseys film if cuts go ahead, tickets from www.bfi.org.uk United Nations, 1960: the Global South ignites a political earthquake, jazz musicians Abbey Lincoln and Max Roach crash the Security Council, Nikita

Saturday 1st December 2pm

Mugabe and Me+ Q&A with director-producer Roy Agyemang and executive producer Andy Mundy-Castle An intimate documentary portrait of former Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe in his later years.Courtesy of BBC Africa Over a ten-year period, British-born Ghanaian filmmaker Roy Agyemang gained

Tuesday 22nd October 6.30pm

African Odysseys presents ’Round Midnight’ + discussion with writers Gary Younge and Caryl Phillips A dramatic re-creation of the Black American migrant community in post-war Paris jazz clubs, starring legendary saxophonist Dexter Gordon.Director Bertrand Tavernier France 1986. 133min. Total running

All October

Please sign the petition to Save 17 years of Black film Tear This Building Down: James Baldwin on film In 1976, James Baldwin published a book-length essay, The Devil Finds Work, in which he explored his relationship to film. It’s

African Odysseys Claude McKay, from Harlem to Marseille + intro and panel discussion (guests tbc) hosted by actor-director Burt Caesar. A discussion of this rebellious figure, a poet and novelist, from the Harlem Renaissance. Director Matthieu Verdeil, France 2021. 80mins

August 8th and 11th

Films on 8th and 11th August, If Beale Street could talk and I am not your Negro plus Q&A As part of Hackney Libraries James Baldwin Festival we are proud to present a very special screening of the Barry Jenkins

Saturday 24th August 2pm

+ intro and Q&A with Jonathan Isaac Jackson A double bill of films that take two distinct perspectives on colonialism. We are delighted that the director of Who in da Mornin, Jonathan Isaac Jackson, will introduce this screening and attend

Tigritudes is a subjective and chronological anthology of Pan-African cinemas through 128 films from 42 countries, produced between 1956 (Sudan’s independence) and today – this season is a selection from it. ‘A tiger does not proclaim his tigritude, he pounces.’–

Saturday 13 July 2pm

Plus intro and panel discussion on the role of the Griot A young man is sent to “La Maca,” a prison in the middle of the Ivorian forest ruled by its inmates. As tradition goes with the rising of the

Monday 17 June 6pm

Plus introduction and Q&A Me Captain’ in Italian is a 2023 drama film directed by Matteo Garrone, from a screenplay written by Garrone with Massimo Gaudioso, Massimo Ceccherini and Andrea Tagliaferri.[3] The film, an international co-production between Italy, Belgium and

Saturday 15 June 2pm

Fantastic 1978 film by Med Hondo. The first documentary about a war that has been going on for decades in the Sahara Desert between Morocco and a rebel army known as the Polisario. The disputed territory, Western Sahara, is occupied

Friday 17 May 10am

James Baldwin author, poet and activist is a legendary figure in literature and US Civil Rights history. He marched with Martin Luther King and Malcolm X, debated at Cambridge, argued with US presidents and gave incredible speeches. He spent a

Saturday 11th May 2pm

Restored: Bushman + intro with Journey Mercies director Tomisin Adepeju Combining drama and documentary, Bushman follows the fate of a youth, escaping from Civil War in Nigeria and arriving in California at the tail end of the 60s countercultural revolution.

Friday 26th April 6pm

African Odysseys presents Preview: Omen This magical realist tale navigates the divide between reality and sorcery, creating a distinctive and often impressionistic portrait of domestic and communal life. Koffi, a young Congolese man, returns to his hometown in Kinshasa and

Monday 4th March 17.50

Preview: Origin Mon 4 Mar 17:50 NFT1 USA 2023. Director Ava DuVernay. With Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Niecy Nash-Betts, Jon Bernthal. 141min. Digital. 12A. A Black Bear Pictures release. Audio Description available. While investigating the global phenomenon of caste and its dark

Reviews of Black History Walks, Tours & Talks

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