Arsenal on Location: Pioneers of Black British Cinema - KURZFILMPROGRAMM NGOZI ONWURAH (UK 1988-1994)

Between 1988 and 1994, British-Nigerian filmmaker Ngozi Onwurah (*1964) made a series of short films that deal with body images, body politics and her own search for identity in an autobiographical way. She juxtaposes these uncomfortable narratives with visual beauty and artistic symbolism in a fascinating way. In her graduation film COFFEE COLOURED CHILDREN at Saint Martins College of Art and Design, she describes the racist traumas she and her brother Simon experienced as children in a largely white English neighborhood. In THE BODY BEAUTIFUL, she takes a critical look at female ideals of beauty and the lack of social acceptance of deviations. FLIGHT OF THE SWAN follows the fictional story of a Nigerian girl who studies at a ballet school in England. There she tries to realize her dream role of Princess Odette from the play Swan Lake in the form of a "black swan". In WHITE MEN ARE CRACKING UP, Onwurah questions the fetishization of black women from the perspective of white men in the style of a crime story.

Films:
Coffee Colored Children (UK 1988) 15 min.
The Body Beautiful (UK 1990) 23 min.
Flight of the Swan (UK 1992) 12 min.
White Men Are Cracking Up (UK 1994) 20 min.
(Followed by a discussion with Ngozi Onwurah)