
I have been working in the film industry for over a decade as a curator, impact producer and Author. Over the course of my career I have supported venues such as the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) and British Film Institute (BFI) to introduce a more diverse audience and programme of events. In recent years I have turned my attention to the thriving Nigerian film industry and coined the term BEYOND NOLLYWOOD to refer to new wave Nigerian Cinema.
- 2023 London Film Festival Sub-Saharan Africa Programme Advisor; Raindance Film Festival Programme Advisor; Durban Filmmart Programme Advisor; Reader various Doc Society Funds; Academic Supervisor London Film School/Exeter MFAIB; Guest Curator Uppsala Short Film Festival; Guest Curator FilmFest Dresden.
- 2022 Guest Curated BEYOND NOLLYWOOD at Film Africa 2022, Screener – SUNDANCE Film Festival, Reader – Doc Society Made of Truth & BFI Features Fund, Programme Advisor – Durban Filmmart; Reader – Doc Society Made of Truth Fund; Co-Host – INSIGHTS EFM Podcast; Social Impact Producer – The Black Cop (BAFTA Winner – Best British Short 2022); and Events Programmer – Reel Black Filmamker’s Retreat.
- 2021 Reader – BFI Doc Society Made of Truth Fund; Festival Screener – SUNDANCE Film Festival; Supervisor – London Film School / Exeter MFA International Film Business; Facilitator – Durban Filmmart; Panellist, Afriques En Vision; Facilitator – Third Horizons Film Festival Caribbean Film Academy; Social Impact Producer – Comic Relief GSK Fighting Malaria, Improving Health Partnership; Co Host – IINSIGHTS, The EFM Podcast at Berlinale; and Shorts screener for Tribeca Film Festival.
- 2020 Impact Producer, For Maria Ebun Pataki; BEYOND NOLLYWOOD Guest Curator Brazilian African Film Festival and Film Africa; Academic Supervisor, London Film School; Facilitator BEYOND NOLLYWOOD industry panel, London Short Film Festival; Host for Programmers of Colour Collective BFI Meet-Up; Impact Producer, COMIC RELIEF Sema Stori Films; and Member of BFI Delegation to Berlinale Africa Hub.
- 2019 Judge for BBC Arabic Film Festival; Tribeca Film Festival shorts screener; presented BEYOND NOLLYWOOD at Berlinale Africa Hub and Lights, Camera, Africa Film Festival (Lagos); Academic supervisor, London Film School; and Production Assistant to veteran Curator June Givanni, Pan-African Cinema archive.
- 2018 Guest curated BEYOND NOLLYWOOD at International Film Festival of Rotterdam; presented BEYOND NOLLYWOOD shorts at the British Film Institute and ENCOUNTERS Film Festival.
- 2017 Co-produced Shooting it Like a Woman, BBC World Service Radio documentary looking at the fortunes of women in the Nigerian film industry. Curated British Council’s UK/Nigeria Film Connections programme. A showcase of UK films were screened and filmmaker workshops facilitated at the Africa International Film Festival. Films reviews on BBC Radio 4 about the work of Ousmane Sembene, Jafar Panahi and Rungano Nonyi.
- 2016 Guest curated BEYOND NOLLYWOOD as part of BFI BLACK STAR season.
- 2014 – 2015 Produced South Africa at 20: The Freedom Tour, a collaboration between the leading UK African film festivals such as Film Africa, Africa in Motion and Afrika Eye. This BFI Funded programme toured over 100 venues and events across the UK.
- 2011 – 2015 Curated Islington Borough Council’s Black History Month film programme, King’s Place.
- 2014 Released second publication The Nigerian Filmmaker’s Guide to Success: BEYOND NOLLYWOOD. In 2011, I wrote my first book The Black British Filmmaker’s Guide to Success: Finance Market and Distribute Your Film. Both books serve as cultural specific guides.
My work been featured on CNN, BBC World Service and BBC London News. I have spoken at events which include, The Battle of Ideas Festival, Houses of Parliament (Africa All Party Parliamentary Group), Sheffield Doc Fest, BFI Talent Net.work, University of the Arts, Cannes Film Festival and Judge Business School Cambridge.
I have worked as an impact producer on the UK release of the multi-award winning films Timbutu, The Supreme Price and Viva Riva!. Film Africa and Brazilian Film Festival of London are festivals I have managed the Marketing & PR campaigns for.
I formally entered the industry in 2004 when I curated Black Filmmaker (bfm) Film Club at the ICA managing it for 7 years. I directed the 2008 and 2009 of the bfm International Film Festival.
I have been an official African Heritage Guide at the V&A since 2016, delivering tours in the Europe 1600-1815 Galleries. The tour offers an interpretation of the African presence in baroque, rococo and neoclassical art.
I grew up in a Jamaican household in the UK. I studied Modern History at St. Hilda’s College, Oxford. I hold qualifications in photography and Life Coaching. I am a member of BAFTA. My father is the late Black British Filmmaker Menelik Shabazz.