
When I’m walking between stations on the Tube, I’m always looking out for movie and film posters showing diverse casts. It’s become something of a reflex, I don’t often realise I’m doing it until an image makes me stop. In a sea of posters featuring predominantly male, white faces, a poster highlighting women or people of colour – or both! – will always catch my eye.
That's why I'm already excited about two films coming out in October: Queen of Katwe and A United Kingdom. Both films are directed by women of colour and based on true events. Queen of Katwe, about a Ugandan chess prodigy, is a film I will be writing more about over the next few months. As both a scholar of Uganda and a Ugandan myself, finding compelling, grounded depictions of Africans (particularly African women and girls) in mainstream media is rare and important.
While Africa has long been essentialised as a continent of disease and death, my years of studying just one African country has shown me some of the many other stories that can – and should – be told. Stories of courage and ingenuity by ordinary and extraordinary people alike. This is what diversity means to me. It means welcoming new stories, encouraging people on the margins
That's why I'm already excited about two films coming out in October: Queen of Katwe and A United Kingdom. Both films are directed by women of colour and based on true events. Queen of Katwe, about a Ugandan chess prodigy, is a film I will be writing more about over the next few months. As both a scholar of Uganda and a Ugandan myself, finding compelling, grounded depictions of Africans (particularly African women and girls) in mainstream media is rare and important.
While Africa has long been essentialised as a continent of disease and death, my years of studying just one African country has shown me some of the many other stories that can – and should – be told. Stories of courage and ingenuity by ordinary and extraordinary people alike. This is what diversity means to me. It means welcoming new stories, encouraging people on the margins