Burning an Illusion

Burning an Illusion (1981)

the story of a Black woman's awakening

A young black woman in England becomes increasingly frustrated with her life with her lazy, demanding boyfriend, and with the help of friends seeks something better.

Date of release
1981-11-13
TMDB
6.0 / 10 (8)
Runtime
1h 46m
Genres
Drama
Director
Menelik Shabazz

Casting

Interesting facts

Burning an Illusion is a 1981 British drama film written and directed by Menelik Shabazz, about a young British-born black woman's love life, mostly shot in London's Notting Hill and Ladbroke Grove communities. It was only the second British feature film to have been made by a black director, following Horace Ové's Pressure (1975), and is described by Stephen Bourne as "the first British film to give a black woman a voice of any kind." Imruh Bakari worked with Shabazz and co-founded Kuumba Productions with him.

Background

Giving the history to the film's making, Shabazz wrote on his website (where Burning an Illusion is characterised as "a meeting ground for romantic love and politics"): "Being on the set of Horace Ove's movie Pressure fuelled my inspiration to make Burning an Illusion. I hadn't known Horace prior but my then business partner David Kinoshi was playing one of the characters in the film and invited me along.

Burning an Illusion, according to Ade Solanke on the British Film Institute's Screenonline website, avoids "the tradition of placing white males at the centre of a story". It is also rare example of prioritising the personal drama of black woman over the socio-economic and political conflicts, as "it's about black people who aren't radical". Solanke writes: "Like all drama, the film is about characters facing conflicts. ...

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