This ticket also guarantees you entry to the festival closing party starting at 8pm.

Jungle follows the connected lives of several strangers, each facing their own struggle, viewed through the prism of UK rap and drill music, and giving a perspective on an often unseen world. Frequently misunderstood, it’s a world where one law governs everything: only the strongest will survive. As the strangers’ worlds begin to unravel around them, they come to the realisation that every action, no matter how small, has a consequence.

The genre of comedy has proven to be an effective nursery for launching Black British TV careers. Coincidence? Or is there something about the Black British experience that lends itself to comedy? Join BBC Comedy Director Jon Petrie and an array of comedy talent as we tackle these questions and more and demystify the business of funny.

Little Darlings + Q&A with actors Janae Vito, Diaana Babnicova and writers Nathan Bryon and Jonny Leigh-Wright moderated by Akua Gyamfi.

Destiny is desperate to meet her dad and half-siblings. The only problem is - they don't even know that she exists. And her Dad just happens to be a famous pop star, Danny Killman. When they finally meet Danny is stunned - and Destiny's mum Kate storms off in a huff. But Destiny's sister Sunset stays in touch and the girls bond instantly. Sunset helps Destiny find the courage to sing at her talent contest, and makes sure Destiny knows how much the Killman family love her. To prove it, Danny shows up to Destiny's performance and they sing together on stage.

The Silent Twins is the astounding true story of twin sisters who only communicated with one another. As a result, they created a rich, fascinating world to escape the reality of their own lives. Based on the best-selling book ‘The Silent Twins’, the film stars Letitia Wright and Tamara Lawrance. Programmed by SOULFest.

Director: Agnieszka Smoczyńska

• With Letitia Wright, Tamara Lawrance

• Poland-UK-US 2022. 113min

• Digital

• Courtesy of Focus Features

Join us for the UK premiere of The Threesome, an official Narrative Selection of the 2022 American Black Film Festival.

Director: Jamal Dedeaux

• With Brittany S. Hall, Andrea Lewis, Jerrel O’Neal

• USA 2022. 92min

• Digital

Nominated at the 2022 American Black Film Festival for Best Narrative Feature, Best Director, and Best Screenplay; The Threesome tells the story of sexually awkward Stacey Johnson who decides to take control of her life, cancel her ex, and conquer her fears by having a threesome with her new beau and a mysterious woman she’s never met. What could possibly go wrong?

Join us as we screen a selection of the very best short films from Black British filmmakers and bestow our coveted S.O.U.L. Fest Awards.

Total running time: 120mins

This year’s S.O.U.L. Fest short film programme brings together eight diverse visions of Black British life. Over the course of the programme we meet mysterious strangers, Liverpudlian Beekeepers, and community leaders. We take journeys that are historical, personal, heart-breaking and hilarious. Its wide-ranging, eclectic and highlights that the future of Black British filmmaking is blindingly bright. At the end of the screening, we'll announce our 2022 S.O.U.L. Fest Awards acknowledging the incredible talent on show and recognising an outstanding contribution to Black British screen culture with our Impact Award.

Screening in the programme

• Why Me? UK 2022. Dir.Abdou Cisse

• Barry the Beekeeper UK 2021. Dir.Ikram Ahmed

• Butterfly Affect UK 2022. Dir.Edem Wornoo

• The Ballad of Olive Morris U K 2022. Dir.Alex Kayode-Kay

• Drop Out UK 2022. Dir.Ade Femzo

• Muroyi Ndiani? (Who Is The Witch?) UK 2020. Dir.Lawrie Zidyana

• A Birthday Party UK 2022. Dir.Victoria Thomas

• Reflection UK 2021 Dir.David Anderson

A conversation with American Black Film Festival Founders, Jeff and Nicole Friday, on how they continue to create a global Black film community in spite of the lack of diversity in film and television.

Starring newcomer Jamila C. Gray, On the Come Up is the story of Bri, a gifted 16-year-old rapper, who attempts to take the battle rap scene by storm in order to lift up her family and do right by the legacy of her father - a local hip hop legend whose career was cut short by gang violence. But when her first hit song goes viral for all the wrong reasons, she finds herself torn between the authenticity that got her this far and the false persona that the industry wants to impose upon her.

Director: Sanaa Lathan

• With Jamila C. Gray, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, Lil Yachty, Mike Epps

• USA 2022. 115min

• Courtesy of Paramount Pictures/Paramount+.

Producers are the life blood of film and TV they are often the instigators of new projects and they literally 'keep the show on the road'. At S.O.U.L.Fest we have committed to nurturing producers as a key way to support on screen creativity among Black British filmmakers. To this end our founding sponsor Sony Pictures UK is supporting us to bring you insight and experience, the sort that is typically only hard won from a long career in film and TV, to inspire you to build your own  fantastic production houses and create the compelling content of tomorrow.

Guiding us along this journey are:

Nisha Parti - (Founder, Parti Productions)

Eve Gutierrez - (EP, Eleventh Hour Films)

Sunil Patel - (Founder and CEO, The Whisper Group)

Brett King - (VP Creative Programming, D&I, Sony Pictures Entertainment)

Chairing the session is:

Hannah Smith - (VP International TV Production Ops, Sony Pictures Television)

This session is a unique insight into what it really takes to build, and crucially maintain a world class production film and TV business.

Costume design in film rarely gets the attention it deserves - until now. S.O.U.L Fest are looking at alternative careers in the film industry, starting with an insightful conversation with The Black Costume Network. They’ll give you their unique take on what it’s like for Black costume designers working in the film industry. 

Featuring Costume Supervisor Viveene Campbell, Fashion Stylist turned Costume Designer Cobbie Yates, and Jodie-Simone Howe - a Principal Costume Standby and Costume Designer.

Get Tickets

SCREENSKILLS MENTORING MASTERCLASS - This special session explores ScreenSkills mentoring initiatives in guiding talent, raising confidence and fulfilling potential for creative practitioners in the screen industries including an overview of the successful and groundbreaking ScreenSkills Pro-Create in Association with S.O.U.L. Fest 2021 in matching Black producers with Black mentors.

Filmmakers get an opportunity to pitch their stories to four industry experts - Florence Turkson, Daniellé Dash, Delia René and Leon Mayne in this exclusive feedback session - an unprecedented moment at S.O.U.L Fest 2021

In a S.O.U.L Fest exclusive, Iyare Igiehon will be in conversation with veteran producer and creative executive Kelly Edwards. 

Mentored by legendary director Garry Marshall at Disney and famed producer Laura Ziskin at Sony, Edwards eventually shifted her focus to television, where she served as a comedy executive at Fox and headed up UPN’s Comedy division.

After producing a drama series for Paramount, she moved on to NBCUniversal, where she oversaw diversity for their twenty networks. Edwards spent her final stint as an exec creating HBO and Warner Media Entertainment's emerging artists programs.

Ahead of her new book The Executive Chair: A Writer’s Guide To TV Series Development, released on 5th October, we are thrilled to welcome Kelly to S.O.U.L Fest 2021. 

Buy Tickets

Gaming is a billion-dollar industry but is still massively underrepresented when it comes to Black creatives. We speak to Silver Rain Games’ lead narrative designer Corey Brotherson and Senior Animator at Rocksteady Danny Murdock who will lift the lid on their journey and experiences so far.

Get tickets

For the second year running, S.O.U.L Fest have teamed up with Sony Pictures Entertainment for an exclusive session which will give you a unique insight into how Sony plan their projects and how to get involved in their Creative Diversity Fund. This session is perfect for Black creatives in Film and TV starting out in their careers.

Get Tickets

We talk with Tendai Chitawuro, training and career development co-ordinator at DV Talent and Toyin Ayinde, the Members Services and Events Coordinator at Directors UK about the importance of various crafts and skills within the film industry, as part of this exclusive S.O.U.L Fest session.

Buy Tickets

As the second annual S.O.U.L Fest concludes, we are delighted to welcome Radio 1 DJ Dev Griffin who will play us out in style with an exclusive Zoom party session to close out this year's festival
Join us this Bank Holiday Sunday for an evening of great music and vibes to celebrate what has been a wonderful S.O.U.L Fest.

Whether short film or feature, documentary or sci-fi every film needs Marketing and PR to ensure it gains an audience. However, it's not always easy to find the right people to promote your film especially when Black filmmakers and their films are usually seen as high risk, or generally misunderstood. 

S.O.U.L. Film Festival has brought together a panel of women who have worked extensively in Film Marketing and PR

• Ronke Lawal - of Ariatu PR, Communications Agency - https://www.ariatupublicrelations.com/

• Amber Muotto - of Way To Blue, Communications Agency - https://www.waytoblue.com/

• Ruby Aryiku - of VAMP UK, Social Marketing Agency - http://www.wearevamp.co.uk/

• Mia Farrell - of BFI Festivals & Independent Film Consultant - https://www.miafarrell.com 

Meet the key players behind Sony Pictures Entertainment's TV shows and gain an insight into how they work.

Sony Pictures Entertainment were one of the first supporters of S.O.U.L.Fest and continue that support with this exclusive insight into the workings of their UK based TV production. In this session chaired by Sony's President of International Production, Wayne Garvie you'll get the chance to meet key players in SPE's TV shows. Panellists include Joel Wilson (Eleven Film), Delyth Scudamore (Blueprint), Miles Ketley (Stolen Picture) and Nisha Parti (Parti Productions). If you've ever wondered how a major producer like Sony makes shows, how you could work on one of their productions or even pitch them your show idea you won't want to miss Sitting in with Sony Pictures.

Panellists confirmed: Joel Wilson (Eleven Film), Delyth Scudamore (Blueprint), Miles Ketley (Stolen Picture) and Nisha Parti (Parti Productions)

Chair: Wayne Garvie (President, International Production)

Quote from Wayne Garvie: “At Sony Pictures we are committed to making a difference and ensuring that diverse storytellers have opportunities denied in the past. So we are excited to partner with SOUL Fest this year, to engage with talented individuals and create opportunities for us to work with diverse production teams and talent. This is a small step on what remains a long, difficult but vitally important journey for all of us at Sony”

Film finance guru Jasmin Morrison presents an intensive online course breaking down in fine detail the intricacies of how the money for making films is raised and structured.

Week 4: Pitching

In the final week of the course we will be focusing on the first step in starting to secure finance by focusing on pitching. We will cover what to include in a pitch document, how pitch documents vary for the intended reader and give you actionable advice on how to start working on the pitch deck for your next project.

Follow Jasmin on Instagram, Twitter and her website.

Friday 21st August , 2020

7:00 PM  9:00 PM

Join us as we highlight this collection of shorts as part of this year’s S.O.U.L fest, exclusively on BFI Player, complete with interviews with filmmakers on the S.O.U.L YouTube Channel, as they talk through their work. 

From whimsical dreams, gentrification in South London, to a young girl finding herself and a flame whose only objective is to stay dry, we’ve selected six stories in our “Visions” season  to kick off this year’s festival, designed to spark debate. 

You’ll be able to watch the first set of shorts on BFI Player on Friday 21st August at 7pm. 

Selected S.O.U.L Shorts (Friday 21st August):

Sandpaper 

Flame

Did We Leave The Lights On 

Our Largest 

The Arrival 

Film finance guru Jasmin Morrison presents an intensive online course breaking down in fine detail the intricacies of how the money for making films is raised and structured.

Week 3: Finance in practice

Having discussed the many types of finance, the third week of the course will look at finance plans, recoupment waterfalls and net profits. This session will look to bring together our previously discussed topics to focus on how to structure a projects finances with multiple parties.

Follow Jasmin on Instagram, Twitter and her website.

The second in our series of shorts brings work together from one of the directors of the hugely successful “Intent” series, a searing and emotional piece from George The Poet, and a conversation in a car between a couple who get philosophical over takeaway condiments. Meet the filmmakers on the S.O.U.L YouTube Channel, and the films will be available to view on BFI Player from Saturday 15th August.

S.O.U.L Shorts (Saturday 15th August):

I Am Pilate

Kenyan, Christian, Queer

elephant

Carmen

My Neighbourhood

Sauce