Film festival celebrates role of black comedy
ABRISTOL film festival is celebrating a wide range of black comedy across some of the city’s best venues, including the Watershed and Colston Hall.
Across December and January, the No B/S! film festival explores the power of black satire, celebrates black British TV comedy legends, and will show some classic buddy movies.
A spokesperson for the event said: “We hope No B/S! will encourage audiences to look behind the laughs and the role of black comedy to challenge, heal and reveal much of what is wholesome and what is problematic in our transatlantic society.”
The season is curated by Come the Revolution and is part of Comedy Genius, a nationwide celebration of comedy on screen, led by BFI, the Independent Cinema Office and BFI Film Audience Network, supported by funds from the National Lottery.
It is a partnership between Watershed, Arnolfini, Colston Hall, The Station, Patwa Creative and Ujima Radio. The screenings are divided into categories of black satire and buddy movies.
The festival’s satire strand considers how black comics explore and explode tropes of blackness, and how performers navigate the negative tropes demanded by a white film industry.
A festival spokesperson said: “Comedic performance serves an important role in communal well being and offers a lens through which one can observe societal change. The trickster is part of a body of oral history passed down by storytellers, musicians and entertainers who in slavery and freedom have used these tales to entertain, teach, preach, cope and to heal.
“The discrepancy between white perceptions of blackness and black realities remains the creative spark for black satire.
“It would be easy to critique individual performers, but their choices must be seen in the context of the racism of the time, the hegemony of white expectations and the narrow opportunities for black performers to break into film and television.”
The Buddy Movies strand con- siders how this popular vehicle has introduced black performers to the mainstream audience.
A spokesperson said: “US comedy Girls’ Trip (2017) brings to the big screen a celebration of black female humanity and friendship through the kind of humour traditionally reserved for men.
“One might say that the black female performer is doubly pioneering given the heritage of black performance – folklore, traditions – rarely mention women as comedic agents.”
For prices and booking details see spark.adobe.com/page/ CSJRSGiWttHlb.