BFI to celebrate black screen talent

Lupita Nyong'o is considered a rising star

Will Smith and Lupita Nyong'o are among the stars who will feature in a BFI film festival celebrating black talent.

The BFI 's Black Star season, launching on 17 October, will show Smith's film Ali and Nyong'o's 12 Years a Slave at almost 300 screenings around the UK.

Classics will also feature, including Sidney Poitier's 1969 film In the Heat of the Night, and be re-released.

Black Star comes as Hollywood's diversity record is under scrutiny, following the row over the Oscars.

Many stars and film-makers boycotted the ceremony due to the lack of black and ethnic minority talent nominated for an award.

The action sparked the international #OscarsSoWhite debate and has led to the organisers of the Oscars inviting a record number of new members to vote in next year's ceremony, including John Boyega, America Ferrera and Idris Elba.

The Oscar-winning 12 Years A Slave will highlight black actors who have played inspirational historical figures

The BFI's Heather Stewart said of Black Star: "Imagine cinema history without Paul Robeson, Dorothy Dandridge, Sidney Poitier, Pam Grier, and Samuel L Jackson - some of the greatest actors to light up our screens with their charisma and talent.

"Now imagine how much richer our shared memory would be, had the opportunities available to black actors matched their abilities.

"With Black Star we are celebrating great performances and bringing them back to the big screen for everyone to enjoy. And we are also asking searching questions, of our industry and of ourselves."

Running for nearly three months in cities including London, Manchester, Leeds, Bristol and Exeter, the season will also focus on key themes.

Blaxploitation - the exploitation of black people, especially with regard to stereotyped roles in films - will be explored in films such as Pulp Fiction and 1974's Foxy Brown.

Black stars who have taken on roles based on historical figures will be celebrated with movies such as Malcolm X, starring Denzel Washington, and Will Smith as Muhammad Ali.

Black Star's programmer, Ashley Clark, said: "From cinema's earliest trailblazers to today's transatlantic stars, I'm excited for audiences to enjoy icons, heroes and heroines back on the big screen where they belong."

The festival will also run live events including seminars, concerts and on-stage interviews.

The BFI's Black Star season runs from 17 October to 31 December.

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