Itw with Nadia Denton, Director of the BFM Film Festival as they celebrate their 10th year in 2008
Nadia Denton has film in her blood. Her father was Menelik Shabazz, the British Filmmaker who directed the 1981 film Burning an Illusion. The film was the catalyst for new traditions in Black British Filmmaking as it placed the Black British experience at the forefront, in ways that hadn’t been done before. Nadia is the festival director for the BFM International Film Festival which opens on the 7th November with The Ghost of Hing King Estate by Trinidadian director Horace Ove. She took some time off her hectic schedule to tell Catch A Vibe more about her ambitions for the festival.
CAV: As your father was a film director and founder of BFM, was it always your desire to work in Black Films?
Nadia Denton: No, I actually studied history at Oxford and never had any intention of going into anything film related. By chance, I was offered the opportunity to run BFM Film Club (at the ICA) about 6 years ago. Initially, I took it up as a hobby. Over the years it has become a labour of love and I have realised how powerful an expression film really is. It was from this that I decided to dedicate myself to the exhibition of Black World Cinema
CAV: Do you feel any pressure from his legacy?
Nadia Denton: No, because I have my own achievements. Many people don’t know that I have travelled extensively, taught in a village in Ghana for 6 months, that I have a qualification in photography and am also a qualified Life Coach.
CAV: Being your first year as festival director, what are your plans for the festival?
Nadia Denton: To make it the most outstanding Black World Cinema platform in Europe. I want to create an event that can be easily duplicated in places like Africa and the Caribbean where much broader representations of black people are needed.
CAV: What are your views on the other black film festivals? (Black International Cinema – Berlin, American Black Film Festival, Pan African Film Festival – Cannes, etc)
Nadia Denton: We should all keep it up. There is so much work out there and so much more to come. The filmmakers really need us and we owe it to our communities to manage the showcasing of such work, rather than to leave it to more mainstream festivals who may never represent us a fully as we would like. I am yet to attend the other festivals, but certainly looking forward to!
CAV: How will you bring the BFM Festival up to the standard of some of the other festival, the American ones in particular?
Nadia Denton: My aim is that BFM will exceed the standards that have been set. Being based in London, we are a much more accessible axis point and as such what we present has to be even more unique.
