‘Britishness’ film explores identity, race and belonging

A new film commissioned by FURD exploring the meaning of Britishness will have its first public screening at Sheffield's Off the Shelf festival on 20th October 2019.

The 57 minute film, called "Britishness", discusses identity, race and belonging through interviews, discussions and spoken word performances. It was produced and directed by Eelyn Lee, supported by a team of volunteers.

A group from Hive South Yorkshire young writers' group worked on the film, which includes interviews with the former Lord Mayor of Sheffield, Magid Magid, Sheffield-born Manchester City and England footballer Kyle Walker, Sheffield's Poet Laureate Otis Mensah, and writer Desiree Reynolds along with a range of other local people and community organisations.

The film raises many issues for debate and will be a great tool for facilitating discussions and work in schools and other educational settings.

Its "Off the Shelf" screening is at midday on Sunday 20th October at the Auditorium, University of Sheffield Students Union, Western Bank, Sheffield S10 2TG. It will be followed by a panel discussion with Eelyn Lee, Desiree Reynolds, Magid Magid, Otis Mensah and some of the young writers.

It will also be shown at the Showroom Cinema at 6pm on Thursday 21st November.

More information and tickets for these events are available from the links below.

FURD attended its first screening at The Independent Cinema Office Screening Days at The Broadway Cinema, Nottingham on Friday 27th September. The screening was followed by a workshop attended by about 25 people to further explore notions of race, identity and belonging that were raised in the film.

Details of other opportunities to see the film and how to access it to use with groups will be available soon.

The first link below is to a piece written by one of the young writers, Shannon Johnson, about her experiences working on the film.