The Black Cop is an intimate portrait of Gamal ‘G’ Turawa, an ex-Metropolitan police officer, exploring his memories of racially profiling and harassing black people and homophobia in his early career. Now an openly gay man, Turawa’s story is a multi-layered one and sits in the centre of three pivotal moments in recent British history, from the black communities’ resistance of oppressive policing, to the push for LGBTQIA equality and the aftermath of the west African ‘farming’ phenomenon, where white families took care of black children outside the remit of local authorities.
The screening will be followed by a conversation with director Cherish Oteka, hosted by Marc Thompson. There will also be opportunity for filmmakers, artists and documentary fans to connect and share experiences at a Testimonies networking drinks after the screening.
Testimonies has been made possible with the support of the BFI Doc Society Fund. Find out more.
There is a small travel fund available to assist filmmakers and others interested in documentary to come to the screening and networking event who could not otherwise afford to attend. If you would like to apply for a travel bursary, please contact carmen@weareparable.com.
Speakers:
Cherish Oteka (they/them)
Cherish Oteka began their career in broadcasting, working across content selection, acquisitions and content curation for leading broadcasters. Cherish has since made documentaries with a range of well-known brands and broadcasters including BBC, London Live, SBTV, Tate, Stonewall and most recently BFI and The Guardian.
Cherish has been selected on well-respected talent schemes including Edinburgh Television Festival’s One’s to Watch, Sheffield Documentary Festival’s Doc Next and The Grierson Trust’s Doc Lab.
In 2016, Cherish won UKTV’s Rising Star Award. The following year they also won Best Documentary at the Movie Screen and Video Awards. Cherishs’ latest project, The Black Cop has been nominated for a BAFTA.
Marc Thompson (he/him)
Marc Thompson is an activist, content creator, health promotion specialist and podcaster.
He has been living with HIV since 1986 and has been at the forefront of HIV activism and prevention in the UK for 30 years.
His work has focused on Black and queer communities, sexual health, and HIV with a particular interest in the intersection of race, sexuality and HIV.
Marc is the co-director of The Love Tank CIC, a community interest community that promotes health and wellbeing of under-served communities through education, capacity building and research.
Marc is the co-founder of Prepster.info, a community-based intervention that aims to educate and agitate for PrEP access globally.
He currently co-curates the digital archive ‘Black and Gay, Back in the Day’ documenting Black LGBT life in Britain since the 1970s and hosts the new podcast series We Were Always Here. Telling the story of the UK HIV epidemic through unheard voices.
Marc has recently featured in the BBC2 series Saved by a Stranger and The Guardians Outspoken series, Freddie Mercury The Final Act and the new Sky series Positive.
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