The June Givanni Pan-African Cinema Archive (JGPACA) and The Ritzy Picturehouse presents a programme of four shorts by British Nigerian award-winning director Ngozi Onwurah, including her latest work, Neighbourhood Alert (2023).
This event will be introduced by Damilola Lemomu (Archive Coordinator at JGPACA) and a Q&A between director, Ngozi Onwurah and Dr June Givanni, film curator and founder/co-director of the JGPACA will take place following the programme.
Programme
Coffee Coloured Children (1988)
Director Ngozi Onwurah, UK, 16min
An intimate experimental monologue about the trauma of racial harassment and self-hate that accompanies growing up mixed-race, this short film examines the complexity of Britain's racial 'melting pot'.
Body Beautiful (1990)
Director Ngozi Onwurah, 24 min, UK
This autobiographical narrative redefines female beauty and sexuality by reflecting on filmmaker Ngozi Onwurah's relationship with her mother. Onwurah's discovery of her sexual appeal as a young model is combined with an intimate account of her mother Madge's experience of desexualisation after having a mastectomy.
Flight of the Swan (1992)
Director Ngozi Onwurah, 11 min, UK
A young girl leaves her Nigerian village to attend a ballet school in England. Fascinated by Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake, she dreams of performing as lead ballerina Princess Odette, but the girls in her close-minded ballet school mock her ideas of a 'black swan'.
Neighbourhood Alert (2023)
Director Ngozi Onwruah, 30 min, USA
A true story that tells of a Black mother forced to take on extraordinary actions to ensure the safety of her teenage son. It investigates and discusses the inherent racism that pervades across Middle America.
