Djibril Diop Mambety · Sen · 1973 · 89 mins

As a counterpoint to the experiences of immigrants in Europe, Mambety’s dreamily romantic film depicts the sometimes surreal story of a couple who yearn to leave their impoverished African homeland for Paris.

Mathieu Kassowitz · Fr · 1995 · 98 mins

An Arab boy is critically wounded by the police and his friend, a Jewish skinhead armed with a stolen police gun, vows to get even if it kills him. This breakthrough film of the new French filmmaking cracks Paris open, revealing a city of ethnic conflict.
+ Paradigm Lost Part 2 [Shaheen Merali · UK · 1995 · 5 mins]
A performance piece that deals with the pain of settlement for a new population in a native community.

The environment we move into is transformed by our presence as much as we are changed by it. These personal films trace how the material world can be altered by different cultural imaginations.

Lisl Ponger’s Passagen [Austria · 1996] focuses on personal encounters,from the intimate and the domestic to the fleeting and transient. MaureenBlackwood’s evocative Home Way From Home [UK · 1993] is based on the true story of a London woman who built a traditional African house in the garden of her suburban semi. Sonali Fernando’s Shakti [UK · 1992] is the story of an Asian woman living in a tower block who recycles rubbish to bring beauty into her world. In Portrait of Mr Pink [UK · 1998] by Helen Appio, Mr Pink reveals his brightly coloured house in South London, inspired by religious imagery, dreams and childhood memories of the Carribean. Daniel Saul’s Garden on a String [UK · 1997] introduces Wilford Baptiste of Nottingham, who has used a unique method to grow a blooming oasis of flowers and vegetables. In A Part of Me by Carl Cullen [UK · 1999] Carl, brought up by white parents, seeks long distance answers from his Jamaican mother.

Angelina Maccarone · Ger · 1997 · 90 mins

A fiery drama from Germany that confronts both racism and homophobia.Katja and Nabou are lovers but as their relationship falters, Nabou sets out to see Katja at every turn, that is until she spies her new downstairs neighbour. With a Skunk Anansie soundtrack thrusting the narrative forward, these mixed-race characters take on the world, and win.

Abderrahmane Sissako · Maur · 1997 · 34 minsA doomed relationship between a black man and a white woman in contemporary Russia acts as a metaphor for the sense of exclusion and misunderstanding at the heart of the outsider experience.
+ An African taxi driver provides a revealing tour of Brussels in Lars Damoiseaux’s Los Taxios [Bel · 1998 · 10 mins]; and Alnoor Dewshi’s Latifah and Himli’s Nomadic Uncle [UK · 1992 · 15 mins], a pavement movie about the nomadic dilemma of two Asian sisters in London.

Julian Henriques · UK · 1998 · 80 mins

Ragga to riches story of a Rude Girl from Harlesden determined to make it big on the dancehall circuit. Full of flava and style, with music by Beres Hammond, Carroll Thompson and Cinderella. Introduced by the director.

Take Away are a unique company, based in London’s East End, providing opportunities for young Asian filmmakers, writers and producers. Atif Ghani, Paul Sukhija and Khaled Hakim of Take Away screen and talk about their productions and collaborations, including Too Fast, made for the BBC, Da Bratt Pac, The Drive, Dance With Me and their groundbreaking new work with Channel Four which involves re-working Bollywood genre films.

Luc + Jean-Pierre Dardenne · Bel · 1996 · 93 mins

Damning exposé of profiteering from the labour of illegal immigrants. Newly arrived in Belgium from Africa, Assita’s husband dies in an unnecessary building accident. His employer, Roger, tells her he’s done a runner over gambling debts. Roger’s son, Igor, however, promised the dying man that he would care for his widow and child, and becomes increasingly emotionally involved in Assita’s predicament.
+ Hello [Jonas Raeber · Switz · 1995 · 3 mins] An animated mockery of
European racism.

Daily in the foyer before screenings

Keith Piper’s work [1996] looks at how popular myths have shaped everyday experiences, against a montage of images that have influenced Western perceptions of black masculinity.