Reel Histories is a bold and compelling film programme for Black History Month 2025 that amplifies the cinematic legacies of Black communities across the globe. From poetic reflections on the Windrush generation to revolutionary struggles in the Caribbean, South America and the UK, these films explore themes of resistance, visibility and identity. Reel Histories invites audiences to witness stories both hidden and heralded, as told through ground-breaking narrative, documentary and short film.

Buy the Reel Histories Pass for £45 which includes:

• Black History Month launch
• All screenings and in conversations as a part of the Reel Histories programme
• Complimentary beverage at each screening

Reel Histories Programme

Black History Month Launch – Wednesday 1 October, 7.00pm

Exhibition Opening – Igor Tavares: Bridging Worlds

In the Corner Gallery, artist Igor Tavares unveils a new body of work. Through the lens of his Guinea-Bissau heritage, Tavares follows in the footsteps of artists such as Jean-Michel Basquiat and David Hammons, positioning the canvas as not just a site for aesthetic exploration but a space to interrogate memory, colonial legacies and the visual language of resistance.

Short Film Screening and In Conversation with Cathy Tyson

Join us for a screening of three short films exploring the Caribbean and Black British experience, followed by a live In Conversation with acclaimed BAFTA award-winning actress and director Cathy Tyson, discussing her creative career and directorial debut, Lilian.

Featured Films:

There All Along
Director Keisha V Thompson | 34 mins

This film shares the untold story of women who participated in the Trinidad and Tobago Black Power Revolution. The presence, importance and impact of female participation in the events of 1970 is presented through the first person accounts of women revolutionaries, their male counterparts and scholars in the fields of sociology and gender.

Riots and Rumours of Riots
Director Imruh Caesar | 1981 | 34 mins | UK | English

The film explores the origins of radical Black consciousness in 1980s Britain by charting the experience of the preceding generation. Part essayistic meditation and part oral history, the film layers audio-visual archive material with recorded testimony.

Lilian
Director Cathy Tyson | 2022 | 15 mins | UK | English

A sensitive portrait of Lilian Bader, one of the first Black women to join the Royal Air Force, in this a poignant directorial debut by Cathy Tyson. The story picks up fifteen years after the Second World War and is a bittersweet reflection on life as a Black British woman in the mid-twentieth century. Lilian was the winner of the Grand Prize for Best Screenplay at the Flickers Rhode Island Film Festival in 2022.

Wednesday 8 October, 7.00pm

The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution
Director: Stanley Nelson Jr
USA 2015, 115 mins
Language: English
Genre: Documentary
Certificate: 15

The first feature-length documentary to explore the Black Panther Party, its significance to the broader American culture, its political awakening for Black people and the lessons learnt since. The film weaves a treasure trove of rare archival footage with the diverse group of first-hand accounts: police, FBI informants, journalists, white supporters and detractors, and Black Panthers who remained loyal to the party and those who left it.

Wednesday 15 October, 7.00pm

Marighella
Wednesday 15 October | 7.00pm
Director: Wagner Moura
Brazil 2019, 2hrs 35mins
Language: Portuguese with English subtitles
Genre: Drama and History
Certificate: 18

This film charts the last five years in the life of Brazilian writer, politician and revolutionary Carlos Marighella (1911-1969), who resisted the military dictatorship and became a hunted enemy of the state. Part of the official selection for the Berlin, Stockholm and Seattle International Film Festivals, Marighella was initially barred from distribution in Brazil.

Wednesday 22 October, 7.00pm

I Am Cuba (Soy Cuba)
Wednesday 22 October | 7.00pm
Director: Mikhail Kalatozov
Cuba/Soviet Union 1964, 2hrs 21mins
Language: Spanish with English subtitles
Genre: Drama and History
Certificate: PG

I Am Cuba is both a landmark of radical political cinema and a visual masterpiece. Four explosive vignettes capture Cuban life on the brink of transformation, as crushing economic exploitation and inequality give way to a working-class uprising. Suppressed as propaganda for decades, I Am Cuba is an essential watch for cinematic and political discourse.

Wednesday 29 October, 7.00pm

Pauline Black: A 2-Tone Story
Director: Jane Mingay
UK 2024, 92mins
Language: English
Genre: Documentary
Certificate: 15

Pauline Black, lead singer of 2-Tone band The Selecter, tells her extraordinary life story in the same frank manner that helped shape her as an iconic, era-defining female musician. Looking back at her own ground-breaking experience in this feature documentary, Black traces how her legacy came about and how it is relevant to the world today, especially when society pushes the boundaries of gender, politics, race and identity. The film screening will be followed by an In Conversation with Pauline Black, exploring her career, identity, activism and creative legacy.