Investigate how Black women carved out their own place in the action hero film genre.

Black women have a unique representative journey in film. Travelling from the servitude of 1915’s The Birth Of A Nation (Dir. D.W. Griffiths), through to the ‘bad mamma’ icons of the Blaxploitation genre, landing on today’s images that fulfil at least some of the archetypes of the action, superhero characteristics.

Some of these women include Halle Berry as The X Men’s Storm (since 2000); Viola Davis as head-honcho Amanda Waller in The Suicide Squad, (2016/2021); Lashana Lynch donning the iconic 007 monocle (if only for a short while) in No Time To Die (2021), and Danai Gurira making her indelible mark as the character Michonne in arguably one of the most globally recognised television series, The Walking Dead (2010/2024) - not to mention Danai’s role as general of the Dora Milaje’s, Okoye in both Black Panther (2018/2022) films.

To help us on our journey at Hyde Park Picture House, we’ll investigate how Black women carved out their own place in an already tough genre for women as a whole in the action hero genre, with feature films The Woman King (2022) and Proud Mary (2018), a surprise short and enlightening presentations by Jennifer Robinson.

In our in-depth day, we’ll include a look at how characterisation and narrative shapes these stories, some of the socio-political contexts and behind the scenes, we’ll look at some of the actresses and their own industry autonomy.

SCHEDULE:

10am – Introductory Talk

10.30am – The Woman King

12.45pm – Lunch

1.15pm – Next Talk

1.45pm – Mystery Short Film

2.05pm – Next Talk

2.40pm – Proud Mary

4.20pm – Concluding Talk

4.40pm - Break

5.20pm – Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

While the talks are interactive, you’ll be invited to participate at a level that works for you: join friendly group discussions, or just sit back and listen. This is a limited capacity event so please book tickets in advance.

Tickets are £35, see Tickets below, and include entry to all talks and films – including our public screening of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever the same evening – as well as free hot drinks served throughout the day.

This Hyde Park Film School event is part of the wider ‘Burning Rubber, Crossing Borders’ season supported by the University of Leeds and funded by BFI Art of Action.