The Diversity Room: James Baldwin

James Baldwin

Horace Ové, CBE (born 1939, Trinidad), is a British filmmaker, photographer, painter and writer, one of the leading black independent film-makers to emerge in Britain since the post-war period. Ové holds the Guinness World Record for being the first Black British film-maker to direct a feature-length film, Pressure (1975). In its retrospective history, 100 Years of Cinema, the British Film Institute (BFI) declared, “Horace Ové is undoubtedly a pioneer in Black British history and his work provides a perspective on the Black experience in Britain.”Ové has built a prolific and sometimes controversial career as a filmmaker, documenting racism and the Black Power movement in Britain over many decades through photography and in films such as Baldwin’s Nigger (1968), Pressure and Dream to Change the World (2003). His documentaries such as Reggae (1971) and Skateboard Kings (1978) have also become models for emerging filmmakers. The actress Indra Ové is his daughter.