The festival celebrates Black History Month with the British premier of Fanon, a drama focussing on a formative moment in the life of Franz Fanon, Martinique born radical psychiatrist, political activist, and revolutionary writer rolled into one. A formative influence on the US Black Panther Party, Fanon is remembered for his developing of radical treatments for patients, some born out of his understanding of the mental toll placed on those under colonial occupation, and his uncompromising support for armed struggle against it. This new drama records a key moment in his life when he was appointed to work in an “asylum” in French occupied Algeria in the mid 1950s. By day he introduces more humane treatments in the hospital in which he works, and by night he is drawn into the struggle of the Algerian National Liberation Front resistance. This moment was also critical in Fanon developing the ideas that were to form the basis of the Wretched of the Earth, his book which explored the role of violence in the struggle of the oppressed to free themselves from oppression. There will be a short introduction from Dr. Edson Burton.

Entry requirements: 18+ — Read more — Read less