This short film directed by Nadira Amrani celebrates UK black pride
Otamere
UK Black Pride and Proximity London have collaborated on a short film that encourages people to “keep the noise up”. The short aims to raise awareness of the intersectional struggles of those within the LGBT+ community.
The film is directed by filmmaker Nadira Amrani and features a range of prominent individuals from across the community, including UK Black Pride’s co-founder and executive director, Phyll Opoku-Gyimah, and West End star Layton Williams, against a backdrop of striking portraits that celebrate queer people of colour.
The film includes a quote from Audre Lorde which reads: “When I dare to be powerful, to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less important whether I am afraid”.
Speaking on the project Amrani says,
“It was a fantastic project to work on creatively as well as emotionally. Pride is always an interesting time of year of celebration and self-reflection of how far we’ve come as a society, as well as how far we are yet to go. I really respect the work of UK Black Pride and it was a pleasure working with Lady Phyll who is so well known in the community for all her hard work. This film really incorporates that collective history with quotes from Queer activists while celebrating today’s diverse and talented QTIPOC communities. It was so much fun taking the portraits of our contributors on 35mm Film and Medium Format. I think it’s important that more queer directors and photographers of colour are given the chance to work on these sorts of campaigns”.
The film is in anticipation for UK Black Pride celebrated this weekend, — Europe’s largest celebration for African, Asian, Latin American, Middle Eastern and Caribbean-heritage LGBT+ people, and their friends and allies.
John Treacy, executive creative director of Proximity London, added: "’Keep the noise up’ brings together members of the community to recite the powerful words of their predecessors. It acts as an acknowledgement of the historic struggle and as a call to arms for the community to come together in one voice at Black Pride 2018.”
UK Black Pride takes place on 8 July.