DIMENSIONS OF DIALOGUE
It was a moment of sheer coincidence that sparked Rōgan Graham and Grace Barber-Plentie to create a private forum to pick apart Steve McQueen’s Small Axe, a stunning anthology about the lives of people from the Black diaspora in the UK. Already loyal followers of each other’s memes, rants and writings about film, they finally met face-to-face at a screening of Med Hondo’s West Indies at London’s BFI Southbank, where they happened to be seated side-by-side. From there, a friendship and a support system was born, where as young Black women in the early stages of their careers, they were able to help each other navigate the tricky waters of the UK film industry.
From this self-created support system, an emotionally turbulent summer stirred up by the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement, and the release of Small Axe, the two realised that they needed to replicate the support they had given each other on a larger scale – creating a forum and a safe space where Black people could share their thoughts on this landmark miniseries.
Joined by special guests Dr Hannah Robbins, We Are Parable’s Anthony Andrews, critic Leila Latif, The British
