Horace Ové’s ‘Pressure’ & Menelik Shabazz’s ‘Burning An Illusion’ Among Titles Screening As Part Of TIFF Cinematheque’s Windrush Season
TIFF Cinematheque has dedicated a season to films about the Afro-Caribbean diaspora in British cinema, marking 50 years since Horace Ové’s landmark film Pressure. The programme highlights stories of identity, discrimination and cultural change, and runs in Toronto until 28 October.
Curated by programmer Vicky Wong, the series includes Pressure, shown in a new 4K restoration, as well as Menelik Shabazz’s Burning an Illusion, Babylon and Steve McQueen’s Lovers Rock. Pressure follows Tony, a British-born young man of Trinidadian heritage who faces racism and police harassment while looking for work, prompting a political awakening; it was restored by the BFI National Archive and The Film Foundation.
In short
- TIFF Cinematheque marks 50 years of Pressure with a Windrush film season.
- The programme runs in Toronto until 28 October.
- Pressure screens in a new 4K restoration.
Explained simply
Caribbean migration to Britain increased after the Second World War, including under the “Windrush generation” name, taken from the ship that brought some of the first post-war arrivals in 1948. Their children came of age in a Britain shaped by racism, changing ideas of identity and the growth of Black British culture.
Horace Ové, born in Trinidad and based in Britain, made Pressure, a film about a young British man of Trinidadian heritage confronting racism and police harassment. Menelik Shabazz’s Burning an Illusion and other films in the programme also explore Black life and experience in Britain, offering different perspectives on a period of cultural change.
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