Britishness (2018 - 2019)
By
Eelyn Lee
A photograph of five young people looking out over a cityscape as the sun sets.
Britishness is a 57-min film that sees Eelyn Lee and a group of young writers from Sheffield go on a quest to find out the meaning of Britishness.
Together they explores issues of identity, race and belonging through poetry, interviews and discussions. Utilising her open approach to filmmaking, Eelyn commissioned new work from her collaborators, seeking to make the film’s study of identity a dynamic and collective one, positioning ‘Britishness’ as a concept constantly in flux. Featuring Magid Magid, during his tenure as Lord Major of Sheffield; writer Désirée Reynolds; England footballer Kyle Walker and Sheffield’s Poet Laureate Otis Mensah amongst others. The film was commissioned by Sheffield charity, Football Unites Racism Divides and developed through a series of film, poetry and discussion workshops with young people.
““.... Lee’s film Britishness (2019) complicates the often indefinable notion of ‘Britishness’. Comprising spoken word poetry, interviews, and group discussions, the work follows young writers from Sheffield as they affirm, reject, and revise their visions of national identity and grapple with the consequences of Britain’s colonial history and their own personal experiences. The film posits ‘Britishness’ as a concept that is constantly in flux, moulded by ever-changing social, economic, political and historical narratives and carrying different significance for each individual. Through this lens, Lee invites viewers to question and re-evaluate their own definition of what it means to be British...” ”
More information: https://eelynlee.com/item/britishness
