Maureen Blackwood (born 30 July 1960) is a British

filmmaker Filmmaking or film production is the process by which a Film, motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, beginning with an initial story, idea, or commission. Production then continues through screen ...

and founding member of Sankofa Film and Video Collective – a collective dedicated to promoting and producing black films by black directors. Her films consist of experimental narrative and documentary works that examine black life in Britain from a variety of perspectives.

Life and career

Born in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, England, to Jamaican parents, Blackwood attended

City and Islington College City and Islington College (CANDI) is a further education college in the London Borough of Islington, England, established in 1993. The college has four major centres throughout the borough, including a dedicated sixth form centre. It is part of ...

in London, followed by the

University of Westminster The University of Westminster is a public university, public university based in London, United Kingdom. Founded in 1838 as the Royal Polytechnic Institution, it was the first Polytechnic (United Kingdom), polytechnic to open in London. The Po ...

(then Polytechnic of Central London), at which she obtained a degree in

Media studies Media studies is a discipline and field of study that deals with the content, history, and effects of various media; in particular, the mass media. Media studies may draw on traditions from both the social sciences and the humanities, but it mos ...

. One of her tutors introduced her to an African-American man who worked at the

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves filmmaking and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...

named

Jim Pines Jim Pines (c. 1946/1947 – 2023) was an American-born film historian, author and filmmaker. He published widely in journals, including ''Screen'', and wrote the books ''Blacks in Films'' (1975), ''Questions of Third Cinema'' (1990, with Paul Will ...

. He in turn introduced her to

Isaac Julien Sir Isaac Julien (born 21 February 1960Annette Kuhn"Julien, Isaac (1960–)" BFI Screen Online.) is a British installation artist, filmmaker, and Distinguished Professor of the Arts at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Early life Juli ...

Martina Attille Martina Attille, also known as Judah Attille (born 1959), is a British filmmaker and contemporary artist. In 1983, she was a founding member of Sankofa Film and Video Collective, together with Isaac Julien, Maureen Blackwood, Nadine Marsh-Edwards ...

Nadine Marsh-Edwards Nadine Marsh-Edwards is a British film producer. She has been described as "a pivotal force in developing a black British cinema". Life Marsh-Edwards graduated from Goldsmiths College before cofounding the Sankofa Film and Video Collective with ...

and Robert Crusz, with whom she founded Sankofa Film and Video Collective in 1983. Her only feature is ''The Passion of Remembrance'' (1987), co-written and co-directed with Julien. She followed this up with the narrative

shorts Shorts are a garment worn over the pelvic area, circling the waist and splitting to cover the upper part of the legs, sometimes extending down to the knees but not covering the entire length of the leg. They are called "shorts" because they ar ...

''Perfect Image?'' (1988) and ''Home away from Home'' (1993), and the documentary ''A Family Called Abrew'' (1992). ''Home away from Home'' was an official selection for

Critics' Week Critics' Week (), until 2008 called International Critics' Week ('), is a parallel section to the Cannes Film Festival organized by the French Syndicate of Cinema Critics. History Critics' week was created in 1962, after the French Syndicate of ...

at the

1994 Cannes Film Festival The 47th Cannes Film Festival took place from 12 to 23 May 1994. American filmmaker and actor Clint Eastwood served as jury president for the main competition. French actress Jeanne Moreau hosted the opening and closing ceremonies. American fil ...

. She was a young member of the Camden Black Sisters, and used stories of older members in the film ''The Passion of Remembrance''. In 2003, she graduated from a year-long Script Development Executive Training Initiative backed by

UK Film Council The UK Film Council (UKFC) was a non-departmental public body set up in 2000 to develop and promote the film industry in the UK. It was constituted as a private company limited by guarantee, owned by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and ...

. She then went on to work as a Script Development Executive for several companies, including

Forest Whitaker Forest Steven Whitaker (born July 15, 1961) is an American actor, filmmaker, and activist. His accolades include an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a British Academy Film Award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards and the Best Actor Award at the ...

's Spirit Dance UK. Credited as Mo Blackwood, she co-wrote the feature-length screenplay ''

Shop of Dreams Shop or shopping may refer to: Business and commerce * A casual word for a commercial establishment or for a place of business * Machine shop, a workshop for machining *"In the shop", referring to a car being at an automotive repair shop * Reta ...

'' (2005) for the Estonian production company Exit Films. In 2005, she was selected to take part in a ten-day workshop with the Iranian director

Abbas Kiarostami Abbas Kiarostami ( ; 22 June 1940 – 4 July 2016) was an Iranian film director, screenwriter, poet, photographer, and film producer. An active filmmaker from 1970, Kiarostami had been involved in the production of over forty films, including s ...

. Blackwood's short film ''Lift Stories'' from the workshop was one of four films selected by

Channel Four Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded entirely by its commer ...

to screen as part of ''

3 Minute Wonder ''3 Minute Wonder'' is a short Channel 4 television slot that broadcasts first time directors' three-minute TV programmes in the middle of the channel's weekday primetime schedule. It offers first-time directors and assistant producers the oppo ...

''.

Filmography

* ''The Passion of Remembrance'' (1987) * ''Perfect Image?'' (1988) * ''A Family Called Abrew'' (1992) * ''Home away from Home'' (1993) * ''Lift Stories'' (2005)

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1960 births 20th-century Black British people 20th-century Black British women 21st-century Black British people 21st-century Black British women British documentary film directors British women documentary filmmakers English people of Jamaican descent English women film directors Film directors from London Alumni of the University of Westminster Living people