The work of pioneering Black British filmmaker Horace Ov will be celebrated this fall with a BFI Southbank retrospective season titled Power to the People: Horace Ovs Radical Vision.
A 4K restored version of Pressure (1976), the first full-length Black British film, which is an exploration of the concerns faced by emerging second-generation West Indians in Britain, will receive a joint restoration world premiere at the BFI London Film Festival and the New York Film Festival on Oct. 11. This precedes the films U.K.-wide cinema release by BFI Distribution and on BFI Player on Nov. 3.
The restoration, funded by the BFI Production Board and conducted by the BFI National Archive and The Film Foundation, was made possible with contributions from the Hobson/Lucas Family Foundation and the BFI philanthropy Pioneers of Black British Filmmaking consortium. It was accomplished in collaboration with the Ov family and producer Robert Buckler, utilizing the original 16mm negative, a 16mm release print and the magnetic final mix soundtrack.
Ovs filmography spans four decades and encompasses drama, documentary, music examination, cultural exploration and visual arts. In an era when authentic Black narratives were underrepresented in mainstream media, Ov pushed boundaries at the BBC and Channel 4, creating films that portrayed a multicultural Britain, including A Hole in Babylon (1979), The Garland (1981) and Playing Away (1985).
His work has inspired a generation of diverse Black British filmmakers and artists, including Menelik Shabazz, John Akomfrah, Isaac Julien, Julien Henriques, Ngozi Onwurah, Steve McQueen, Amma Asante, Raine Allen-Mille and Dionne Edwards. Ov was knighted in 2022.
The retrospective season (Oct. 23-Nov. 30) will commence with an illustrated talk and a re-release preview of Pressure. The program will include films like Baldwins N* (1969), Reggae (1970), King Carnival (1973), Skateboard Kings (1978), Black Safari (1972), amongst others. The event will also screen films that influenced Ovs cinematic style, such as La Dolce Vita (1960), Bicycle Thieves (1948) and Pather Panchali (1955).