Tim Reid Offers Scholarships to Diaspora Filmmakers in London

Tim Reid addresses filmmakers at the British Film Institute Southbank in London

It certainly feels like an age since I posted here; my apologies. Travel sometimes does that to you. I spent a few days in the UK on my way to Sierra Leone, and as you may know, the internet in Freetown is pretty patchy…. In any case I was invited to a great event by my friend Makeda in London just before I left. It was an event organized by the Black World Cinema Collective and the Legacy Media Institute. Producer, filmmaker and actor Tim Reid, popularly known for his role in the TV series Frank’s Place, was talking extensively about the African Diaspora. Delivering a presentation entitled “Cultural Propaganda for Purpose and Profit,” he asserted that emerging black filmmakers have the advantage of a unique cultural experience in telling their own stories. Reid was at the British

Filmmaker Louis Buckley speaks at the BFI Southbank

Film Institute Southbank to offer a scholarship from his Virginia, USA-based Legacy Media Institute to a deserving Black British filmmaker. The Legacy Media Institute was started by Reid and his wife Daphne Maxwell Reid as a black Sundance Institute of sorts, in an effort to provide opportunities for filmmakers of color in the area of filmmaking, marketing and distribution. The free event also featured Jamaican/British Filmmaker Louis Buckley, a former Legacy scholarship recipient, and a host of other filmmakers from the UK and the African Diaspora. Baff Akoto, director of the 2010 film  Football Fables, was also on hand, announcing the DVD release of his award-winning film. Buckley shared some of his experiences making his own first film, The Lion Mountains, an extraordinary documentary about his journey to Sierra Leone, and also the process he went through at Tim Reid’s workshop at the Legacy Media Institute. It was a great networking night; amazing for me to run into two Jamaican/British filmmakers who’d not only been to Sierra Leone, but also made films there! You can learn a bit more about Tim Reid’s Legacy Media Institute here. If you live in the UK, you can also contact Nadia Denton for more in-depth information on the film workshops in Virginia. Bless…

Filmmaker Baff Akoto, director of "Football Fables"

Tim Reid chats with a young filmmaker

Filmmaker Louis Buckley, director of "The Lion Mountains"

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