Arts & Culture

Salisbury Arts Centre will be screening the unmissable Britain on Film: Black Britain, February 7.

Striking, illuminating and sometimes surprising images of black culture, community and characters are uncovered in these richly varied short films exploring black culture in the UK throughout the 20th century.

This, the third programme from Britain on Film on Tour, explores the vital history of black Britain, bringing together films from 1901 to 1985, offering incredibly rare depictions of black British life on screen. Watch miners in the collieries of Edwardian Lancashire and Yorkshire; and soldiers from across the Empire joining the services to fight for King and ‘mother country’ in World War I. See rare colour footage of multi-racial Cardiff in 1957, a Nigerian wedding in Cornwall in 1964, and touching interviews with black school leavers in 1965; witness growing racial tensions; and communities in search of their roots and partying on the streets of Notting Hill during Carnival.

Revealing new voices from across a century of vast and turbulent social change in the UK, Britain on Film: Black Britain offers audiences the chance to explore stories of migration, community and the struggle against inequality - and an opportunity to celebrate vivid black British life and culture on screen.

Films in the programme include: Miners Leaving Pendlebury Colliery (1901) & Hull Fair (1902), For the Wounded (1915) & From Trinidad to Serve the Empire (1916), Hello! West Indies (1943), Mining Review 2nd Year No. 11 (1949), To the Four Corners (1957), Black Special Constable (1964) & Black Police Officers (1966), Cold Railway Workers (1964), Nigerian Wedding in Cornwall (1964), Coloured School Leavers (1965), London Line No. 373 (1971), African Student Families (1975), Liverpool 8 (1972), Blood Ah Go Run (1982), The Jah People (1981) and Grove Carnival (1981).

Archive film is an exciting way to highlight our social history. The aim of the programme is to ensure these films reach greater, more diverse audiences, where audiences of all ages will have the opportunity to enjoy the film together. This is a great way to start conversations with everyone in your community about our past, present and future.

Britain on Film: Black Britain screens at Salisbury Arts Centre on Wednesday                                7 February at 7.30 pm. Tickets are £8.

Book online at  www.salisburyartscentre.co.uk or from Salisbury Arts Centre box office on 01722 321744