Shiraz: A Romance of India (1928)Tribeca and YouTube have announced the programme for We Are One: A Global Film Festival. The festival launches on 29 May and features 10 days of digital programming from 21 major film festivals across the world – including the BFI London Film Festival. Bringing together an international community of storytellers and audiences, its programme will be presented for free around the world, running exclusively on YouTube until 7 June at YouTube.com/WeAreOne.
Notable film presentations will include Ricky Powell: The Individualist, a documentary about legendary street photographer Powell featuring interviews with Natasha Lyonne and LL Cool J; the online premiere of Eeb Allay Ooo!, a unique satire about professional ‘monkey repellers’ and winner of the Mumbai Film Festival’s Golden Gateway Award; and the world premiere of Iron Hammer, a compelling documentary feature directed by Joan Chen about legendary Chinese Olympic volleyball star Jenny Lang Ping, a true trailblazer who forged connections across the globe.
True to its mission, We Are One: A Global Film Festival will seek to bring artists, creators and curators together around an international event that celebrates the exquisite art of storytelling. In doing so, it will aim to provide not only solace and entertainment for audiences during a time when it’s needed most, but also opportunities for these individuals to give back through donations to the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF, UNHCR, Save the Children„ Doctors Without Borders, Leket Israel, GO Foundation and Give2Asia, among others. Audiences will be able to donate to COVID-19 relief efforts through a donate button or link on every film page.
The full festival schedule will be available at www.weareoneglobalfestival.com
Tricia Tuttle, BFI London Film Festival Director, said:
We wanted to focus on two things that have great power to unite people across the world — film and music. Here we present two silent films Shiraz and The Epic of Everest, restored by our colleagues at the BFI National Archive with richly evocative, newly commissioned scores from contemporary musicians — Anoushka Shankar and Simon Fisher Turner. These archive gems sit alongside a short film programme of emerging UK filmmakers who are busy now developing on the great promise of these works. We also present Rudeboy, a documentary about the UK’s Trojan records, behind many 60s reggae, ska and rocksteady hits from Desmond Dekker to The Maytals. In these challenging times, there are many people struggling and We Are One is an opportunity for us to come together through our love of film, art and music to reach out and support each other.”
The BFI London Film Festival has programmed the following titles for We Are One: A Global Film Festival:
Rudeboy: The Story of Trojan Records
Directed by Nicolas Jack Davies, UK 2019
New UK Filmmakers – Short Film Programme
Over (Directed by Jörn Threlfall, UK 2015, 15 min)
Masterpiece (Directed by Runyararo Mapfumo, UK 2017, 7 min)
Vertical Shapes in a Horizontal Landscape (Directed by Mark Jenkin, UK 2018, 5 min)
Shiraz: A Romance of India
Directed by F. Osten, UK/India/Germany 1928, restored by the BFI National Archive with original score commission from Anoushka Shankar.
This has a new introduction from BFI Head Curator Robin Baker.
The Epic of Everest
Directed by J.B.L. Noel, UK 1924, 87 min
Silent film restored by the BFI National Archive with original score commission from Simon Fisher Turner.