Special awards presented at Windrush Caribbean Film Festival

LONDON:

Several individuals were recognised for outstanding contribution to the community at the closing ceremony of the fifth Windrush Caribbean Film Festival (WCFF) held at The Ritzy cinema in Brixton, south London. The festival ran from June 21 to 30 and had special screenings of over 30 films in Wales, Birmingham and London.

Special awards were presented to veteran activist and former chair of the Black Cultural Archives, Dawn Hill CBE who received the Paulette Wilson Justice Award for sterling work within the black community spanning over four decades, while journalist Nadine While was the recipient of the Menelik Shabazz Award for her highly acclaimed first film, Barrel Children: The families Windrush Left Behind.

In addition to the special awards, the WCFF also recognised outstanding work by writers and filmmakers who participated in the 2024 Festival. The official WCFF jury voted for Returned from Janet Marrett as the Best Short Film while the Best Feature Film Award was awarded to That Great British Documentary by Joan Hillary. The coveted Best Film award was given to Fearless from director Noella Mingo.

INDOMITABLE SPIRIT

This year’s festival theme was Transitions and Travels: The Journey Continues with screening in Wales, Birmingham and London as well as online viewing of all films with a festival pass.

The award named after Windrush campaigner Paulette Wilson, to Dawn Hill was in recognition of her outstanding leadership role within the community. One of her major achievement was setting up free legal clinics to secure justice for those victimised by the Windrush scandal when she was chair of Black Cultural Archives.

The WCFF created the award in honour of Wilson’s tireless fight against deportation to Jamaica and helping to bring the Windrush scandal to national attention in 2016 following her own personal battle.

Ansel Wong, director of WCFF, said: “Dawn is pioneer, matriarch and activist all rolled into one. She transcended all barriers with her indomitable spirit and determination to make change. Quiet but robust in her intervention, charming in her championing of her community and assured engaging with power brokers at every level of society.

“Dawn has stood her ground no matter who she comes in contact with. She is an icon of our Caribbean diaspora. There can be no worthier recipient for this year’s Paulette Wilson Justice Award.”

PIVOTAL MOMENTS

Journalist Nadine White, the Independent newspaper’s race correspondent, became a first-time filmmaker in 2023 with her lauded documentary Barrel Children: The Families Windrush Left Behind, a moving examination of Caribbean children left behind by their parents who migrated to help rebuild Britain after WWII.

She received the WCFF’s Menelik Shabazz Award to recognise an up-and-coming British filmmaker of Caribbean heritage. This award is sponsored by WCFF media partner Alt-Africa, the luxury bespoke Arts and Culture print and online going out guide celebrating diversity and inclusion in the creative industries.

Joy Coker, publisher and founding editor of Alt-Africa, said: “Menelik’s work was about representation and speaking truth to power. He brought important stories to our attention that might have been buried if he had followed the status quo. Like Menelik, Nadine’s moving film was powerful storytelling that gives voice to the less represented.”

Fearless, which won Best Film, is written by Noella Mingo, whose parents are from Guyana. It is a heart-warming documentary that features six women aged between 78 and 90 years. As young women they left their homes in the Caribbean, Ireland and South Asia to answer post WWII Britain’s call for workers.

The film uses archive film and photography to interweave pivotal moments in women’s social history with the interviewees’ memories of life in Britain. They include the Notting Hill uprising and the fight for racial equality in housing and jobs. The immigrant workers’ rights fought for by the Grunwick factory strikers and the lengths mothers went to in order to ensure their children received a proper education.

WCFF also marked this year’s Windrush Day with an all-day screening of films at The Ritzy and a very special outdoor screening for the Friends of Windrush Square’s Big Caribbean Lunch.