Researching and publicising histories of Liverpool's Black community.
The Heritage Development Company aims to compile and promote the history people of Black origins in Liverpool and its environs and their relationship with the local population, collecting and collating information, including testimonies, archives and artefacts, highlighting black people's contribution to the social, sporting, economic, political, creative, cultural and everyday life of the city. W
28/02/2024
TV Report : Bristol's Reggae sound systems - archiving 1980's & 1990's sound tapes & videos BBC TV report on 'Points West' about Ashish Joshi's archiving of 1980's & 1990's sound tapes & videos of Bristol's Reggae sound systems - with Snoopy (Unique...
19/09/2023
Legendary British Black Filmmaker Horace Ové has taken his ancestral rise.
Born in Trinidad in 1936, Ové moved to London in 1960, a man of many talents he studied interior design and also worked as a photographer taking portraits of various people including important voices in the British Black power movement - Darcus Howe, Stokely Carmichael and Michael X .
Studying at London Film School Ové worked as an extra on the big-budget 'Cleopatra' (1963). He then directed short film 'The Art of the Needle' (1966), followed by documentary short 'Baldwin’s N*****' (1968), following a visit to the UK by author and activist James Baldwin. His film 'Reggae' (1971) was the first documentary to explore Black music and reggae in the UK.
His most notable work is 'Pressure' (1976), directing the first full-length Black British film, an exploration of the concerns of the emerging second-generation West Indians in Britain. Film credits also include: A Hole in Babylon (1979), The Garland (1981) and Playing Away (1985), and documentaries including Who Shall We Tell? (1985) and Dabbawallahs (1985).
Ové was knighted in 2022 for his services to British cinema and media. The same year, the Film and TV Charity named a new grant after him, with the aim of helping people from ethnic minority backgrounds navigate their way through the industry.
In 2022, in a touching tribute to Ové from actor, director Lennie James on his knighthood, he stated the "Horace has been my Obi-Wan:... an example of how truly inspirational he was and will be forever be to the British Black filmmaking community.
We send our love and condolences to the family of the godfather of black British film-making Horace Ové.