Women of the Lens Film Festival
News : Commentary
News I Commentary
Nichelle Nichols: Lessons In The Life Of An Icon
“The importance of the icon cannot be understated. Nichelle Nichols as Lt. Nyota Uhura, Communications Officer of the Star Ship Enterprise, is still an exception to the rule of black women positioned as main protagonists in any mainstream science fiction.”
Read the full inteveiw with Nichelle Nichols and our Festival’s founder, Jennifer G. Robinson via the button below.
UK actors and the cost
of leaving

Ahhh…the perennial challenge for British Black actors; to stay or leave…the UK that is.
Daniel Kaluuya came away with an Academy Award for ‘Best Supporting Actor’ for his part in ‘Judas and the Black Messiah’ in April of this year. The chances that he’d have been offered roles in the UK that would have taken him on a pathway to this climatic event are pretty slim.
What this tweet from @lailatweetzx hints at is that for many Black UK actors, their career trajectory falls short and any effort to propel themselves to fulfilment must include leaving UK shores for, more often than not, the USA. The move many Black UK actors make to then take up roles in Hollywood have become gristle for a few arguments about Brits taking on African American roles that should be for African American actors…so the argument goes.
A lot of this topic ties into an earlier piece of ‘news’ about the BBC’s Miranda Wayland who chastised the television detective series ‘Luther’ for being inauthentic. Wayland, the new ‘diversity’ head-honcho lamented that the character had no ‘roots’ of any kind, he didn’t eat Caribbean food (hmmm…do we know if ‘Luther’ is of Caribbean extraction?), nor did he have any Black friends.
The series creator, Neil Cross admitted that ‘Luther’ was not written as a Black man and that to maintain integrity, Cross couldn’t have written about that part of the character.
Erm…couldn’t Black writers have been hired to do the job? Why didn’t anyone on the ‘Luther’ production think to look at recruiting Black and/or people of colour you know, for authenticity?
Decisions, decisions. Should they stay or should they go?

Daniel Kaluuya, 2021 winner of the Academy Award for ‘Best Actor In A Supporting Role’
(image credit: @quillemons for Vanity Fair Magazine)
We’re beside ourselves. The trailer for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever already has us in our feels!

To further back up her credentials, Palmer rolled off all her accomplishments saying in a tweet; “…I’ve been a leading lady since I was 11 years old. I have over 100+ credits, and currently starring in an original screenplay that’s the number one film at the box office NOPE…”
It’s a shame that Keke had to resort to explaining herself, but here we are 🙁
Black Film Bulletin revived via the BFI’s Sight and Sound
Starring Letitia Wright and Tamara Lawrance, The Silent Twins is about the real life story of Welsh sisters, Jennifer and June Gibbons. The girls descend into a world of their own after suffering a traumatic event. The film is due later in 2022.


Idris Elba as ‘Luther’
(image: BBC)
One of the reasons this platform exists is to showcase and show off under represented women who get limited, if any form of exposure. What Nina Simone experienced should not happen again.
Women Of The Lens
Experience Sharing Professional Tips
about Us
You don’t have to be a black woman to engage with us. We look forward to linking with you. Whomever you are, you do have to be invested in making changes that repairs the career chances and images of black women. Simples.