Pressure

Pressure is considered the first feature-length film of Black British protest cinema and is still relevant as an authentic portrait of the fears of Caribbean immigrants. Horace Ové's gritty narrative, which combines documentary realism with surrealist sequences, depicts the experiences of a working-class Trinidadian family seeking acceptance and assimilation in the palpably racist British society of the 1970s. Teenager Tony is torn between the middle-class aspirations of his parents and the Black Power militancy of his older brother. Pressure was shot on a minimal budget and received critical acclaim when it premiered at the London Film Festival, but because of explicit scenes of racist police brutality and black resistance, the British Film Institute, the main funder, delayed the film's release for three years on the pretext of not wanting to provoke further riots. (Anupma Shanker)

Courtesy British Film Institute

Introduction by Anupma Shanker (on both dates)

Photo: British Film Institute