Being Blacker

Molly Dinean (2018)

Blacker Dread Rated 15 Run time 95 mins

There will be a short introduction by Richard Cupidi before this film starts.

Film maker Molly Dineen has returned with her first documentary in ten years.The film tells the story of well-known reggae record shop owner and music producer, Blacker Dread, his extended family, friends and the wider Brixton community. Made with Dineen’s characteristic intimacy, the film focuses on a tumultuous time in Blacker’s life: the death of his mother and the prospect of his first prison sentence. Dineen shines a spotlight on the struggles the characters face on a daily basis and in doing so offers a particular understanding of both the challenges and triumphs of family and community togetherness in Blacker’s world. Being Blacker offers a unique insight into what it is to be black in Britain today.

89% – Rotten Tomatoes
8.1/10 – IMDB

“What emerges is a sensitive portrait of a man at a difficult crossroads in his life. There’s an immediate crisis involving a run-in with the law. But there are more lingering ghosts to do with migration, separation, integration and identity.”

“The best documentaries give a slice of other lives, lived both well and badly, which, in the right hands, can linger in your head for months. These were the best hands.”

Being Blacker: A new documentary captures one black immigrant’s powerful attempt to make London feel like home – Quartzy