Menelik Shabazz
Menelik Shabazz
Menelik Shabazz is an Award winning film director, producer, and writer, and a key pioneer in the development of contemporary black British cinema. He he was introduced to the first portable video technology whilst studying at North London College. The Sony portapak demystified filmmaking for him and made the filmmaking process accessible. Menelik’s first film was Step Forward Youth, a documentary made with young Black people in Brixton and Ladbroke Grove which was one of the first films to give Black youth a voice in the UK.
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00:00 Start 00:10 Growing Up 02:05 School in Barbados 02:50 The ‘Cowboy Cinema’ 03:34 Leaving Barbados 04:45 Arriving In London 1961 06:40 School in London in the 1960’s and the pressure of assimilation 08:35 Tennis Whites and Black Power 11:05 Thomas Braithwaite becomes a Menelik Shabazz. Joining the Black Liberation Front and becoming an activist 13:06 Not getting into Art School but discovering the PortaPak 14:34 Experimenting with style by making my first film in Ridley Road Market 16:32 Six Months at London Film School 18:40 Step Forward Youth, 1977 20:56 Step Forward Youth at the festival of Black Arts and Culture in Nigeria 22:05 Entering the world of TV 22:54 Making a documentary about the SUS law for ATV 24:18 BreakingPoint, 1978. Breaking new ground 26:39 The power and the problem with the mainstream 27:46 Developing Burning an Illusion 1978 with financial support from the BFI 29:25 Documenting the New Cross fire. Blood Ah Go Run, 1981 30:51 Establishing a Video Workshop 31:37 Ceddo Film and Video Workshop 33:08 Broadwater Farm and making The People’s Account, 1986 35:53 Time and Judgement, 1988 and the end of the Channel Four Workshops 37:15 Establishing Black Filmmaker Magazine and the Black Filmmakers Festival 39:26 Where’s Your Voice? Filmmaking today
