Black in Focus presents: Hard Truths
12A 120 mins
12A 120 mins
New to Harbour Lights Picturehouse: ‘Black In Focus’ Black British film nights by Our Version Media and Harbour Lights Picturehouse
‘Black In Focus’ is Southampton’s only Black British Film (genre) nights. There’s just one rule for the films we show: no gratuitous Black trauma. That means no films centred on gang violence, drugs, slavery or the negative Black storylines often shown in big cinemas. Started in 2022 by Our Version Media, now in partnership with Harbour Lights Picturehouse, 'Black In Focus' is billed as a refreshing change to the usual Black trauma and struggle narratives.
Pansy (Marianne Jean-Baptiste) is a woman wracked by fear, tormented by afflictions, and prone to raging tirades against her husband, son, and anyone who looks her way.
Meanwhile, her easygoing younger sister Chantal (Michele Austin) is a single mother, her life brimming with communal warmth from her salon clients and daughters alike. But things between the two of them come to a head over the course of one Mother’s Day weekend.
A true legend of contemporary British cinema, Mike Leigh returns to the modern world with his first feature in six years: a fierce, humorous and compassionate study of family and the thorny ties that bind us.