Black Voices of Somerset / awareness and understanding

Black Voices of Somerset is a short documentary by Emma Grazette. Beautifully shot with a gentle intensity and disarming honesty, it was made for the purpose of raising awareness and understanding, and drumming up support for BLM in the whole of the West Country.

It was commissioned by The Brewhouse in Taunton and addresses the experience of being black/ a person of colour in rural areas.

Emma Grazette

Emma Grazette is a film producer of British and Caribbean descent. She grew up in Somerset and has lived in the Deep South and Africa. She studied Caribbean and English literature and is driven by a desire to elevate and champion counter-narratives. She strives to further diversity both in front of and behind the camera and brings a broad perspective to her work.

Emma is part of the BFI NETWORK South West’s New Producers Lab 2020, and she will also be working on a documentary commissioned by the Exeter Phoenix, due to start soon.

Untold

Black Voices of Somerset is her response to the Brewhouse’s call out for work that depicts untold sides of Somerset.

Racial equality

After watching the film, Emma asks that you consider how you can support or get involved with organisations and projects that seek to educate and promote racial equality, please check out the following pages:

Susann Savidge speaks in the film, she is founder of Somerset’s African and Caribbean Network, and chairperson of People in Harmony a charity supporting mixed-race people across the UK:

Dr Shawn Sobers is a professor of lens media at UWE, as well as a filmmaker, photographer, writer and lecturer. His research is primarily concerned with the use of media and arts in participatory education, advocacy, heritage, marginalised voices and untold stories.

Educate

“In this moment there is exceptional attention on the lived experience of black individuals in Britain, upon the systemic racism within British institutions, and upon the glaring omissions within the British curriculum,” says the Cargo Collective. Cargo is delivering the first iteration of Cargo classroom: a set of 15 history lesson plans for key stage 3.

Also look at Black Lives Matter Somerset, which promises ‘change is coming, even in the West Country’. And BLM UK