70 Years of Black TV Drama in Britain
Writer: Stephen Bourne
Introduction | A Sort of Magic | 1960s – Enoch and Alf | 1970 and Beyond | Conclusion | Find Out More
Find out more
Links | Books
Links
BBC Guide to Comedy
www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/guide
Characters, plotlines and general information on Desmonds, Love thy Neighbour and other tv comedies, past and present.
Internet Movie Database
www.imdb.com
Online resource includes film and tv work of Pauline Henrique, Horace Ove and other black actors and filmmakers.
Black Filmmaker
www.bfmmedia.com
Incorporates a magazine, film show, festival and film club aims to both entertain and educate. Includes courses in tv and film production, opportunities, events and reviews.
How Racist is Britain?
www.channel4.com/life/microsites/R/
racism/big_question/jim_pines.html
Channel 4 website includes a short piece by Jim Pines, Senior Lecturer in Media Arts at the University of Luton with particular emphasis on black representation in front of and behind the camera.
Rice n peas
www.ricenpeas.com
Some black filmmakers are doing it for themselves. riceNpeas is an independent film production company that specializes in evocative, thought-provoking social documentaries. Find out more about their films, read articles on related topics and view videos on their 'monthly online magazine for the alternative voice in media'.
Pitch Black: from the margin to the mainstream
http://216.239.59.104/search?q=cache:
_mj6vUiSAMMJ:www.nesta.org.uk/assets
/pdf/pitch_black.pdf+Paula+Watson+Pitch+Black+
Nesta&hl=en&gl=uk&ct=clnk&cd=2
A National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (Nesta) report by Paula Watson (2001), examines the value that British black producers and black-owned production companies can create through their increased participation in the mainstream of the television industry.
BFI source guide
www.bfi.org.uk/filmtvinfo/library/
publications/16+/blackbritish.html
British Film Institute's source guide on Black British Film and television.
Kidulthood
www.kidulthood.co.uk/
Promotional website for the recent film centred around the lives of West London teenagers. Kidulthood was written, produced and directed by young black and Asian filmmakers.
Black Cinema
www.greencine.com/static/primers/black-1.jsp
David Hudson's history of black cinema and black representation in American films from DW Griffiths' Birth of a Nation to the contemporary films of John Singleton and Spike Lee (on the Green Cine website).
Books
UK
Young, British and Black: the work of Sankofa and Black Audio Collective by Coco Fusco (Halliwalls/Contemporary Arts Centre, 1988)
An account of work done and interviews with filmmakers from these two important filmmaking collectives.
Beaton but Unbowed: an autobiography by Norman Beaten (Methuen 1986)
Norman Beaton charts his own career from Guyanan Calypso champion of 1956 to British film and TV personality.
Black In The British Frame: The Black Experience In British Film And Television by Stephen Bourne (Continuum, 2001)
In-depth study by one of Britain's leading authorities on black history. '...a valuable book which uncovers an almost hidden history of a wealth of talented men and women.' – Film Review. Get this book.
Black People in British tv: soaps and sitcoms by Cinema City (Cinema City 1988)
Articles by industry professionals and journal references to television programmes.
Remote Control: dilemmas of black intervention in British film and TV by June Givanni (BFI 1995)
Report from the Black & White in Colour conference: prospects for black intervention in television, held at the ICA, Nov. 1992. Get this book.
Representation and Blacks in British Cinema by Jim Pines and the British Film Institute Education Department (BFI Education: Advisory Document pack)
Analysis of some of the more important films in Black British cinema including a brief analysis of Horace Ove's Pressure.
USA
Watching Race: Television and the Struggle for Blackness by Herman Gray (University of Minnesota Press, 2004)
From The Jack Benny Show and Amos 'n' Andy through to The Cosby Show and In Living Color, Gray shows how the meaning of blackness on American television has changed over the the years. Get this book.
Living Color: Race and Television in the United States by S. Torres (Duke University Press, 1 May 1998)
An edited volume of essays on race, ethnicity and television, combining media studies, cultural studies, and critical race theory to investigate tv's representation of race. Get this book.
Daughters of the Dust: Making of an African-American Woman's Film
by Julie Dash (G P Putnam's Sons, Feb 1999)
Dash wrote and directed Daughters of the Dust, the story of an African American family migrating to the mainland from islands off the coast of South Carolina and Georgia at the turn of the century. The book includes Dash's complete screenplay and describes the story of her 16-year struggle to complete the project. Get this book.
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