The British film “White Colour Black” marks the feature film debut of British-Nigerian director Joseph A. Adesunloye, and has been selected to make its New York City premiere at the New Voices in Black Cinema Festival in Brooklyn, NYC this week, Friday, April 28, at 9:30pm.
Starring Dudley O’Shaughnessy – who previously appeared in Rihanna’s “We Found Love” music video – playing the lead role of Leke, a young successful photographer living a hedonistic lifestyle in London, “White Colour Black” chronicles Leke’s journey to Senegal to bury his estranged father, after he becomes ill and suddenly dies. Alienated and disoriented from the country of his childhood, the story ultimately puts Leke on a path of self discovery and cultural transformation.
According to the director, the film is an intensely personal story because it’s loosely based on the death of his own father. However, as he says, “I wanted to make this film because I don’t see many films like this emerging from the British Cinema space.”
As for the film’s producer, Joy Gharoro-Akpojotor, adds, she wanted to be involved with the project because: “There’s a lack on diversity in British Cinema, and when there is diversity, there’s only a certain kind of black representation. I wanted to make a British film that showcases a different kind of blackness outside of gangs and poverty because we have more than one narrative.”
Adesunloye’s previous work as a director includes the short film “Beyond Plain Sight” which premiered at Raindance in 2014, where it was nominated for Best British Short Film, and was selected for the BFI Flare Festival. And as was reported on this blog yesterday, he’s now attached to direct a new UN-backed documentary about climate change that will be executive produced by “City of God” filmmaker, Fernando Meirelles, titled “The Great Green Wall,” which will chronicle the ongoing initiative to grow an 8,000 km wall of trees and plants across the width of the African continent.
In the meantime, New Yorkers have “White Colour Black” to look forward to in the near future, screening this Friday, April 28, at 9:30pm. For tickets, click here.
Watch a strikingly beautiful trailer for “White Colour Black” below, followed by the film’s poster:
