London launch in partnership with Black History Walks and African Odysseys celebrates Black cinema pioneers, sporting excellence, women and bold new generations transforming global culture.
LONDON / TORONTO / TRINIDAD & TOBAGO — August 31, 2026 — The Windrush International Caribbean Film Festival (WICFF) will launch its inaugural international edition in London this September under the banner CHANGING THE GAME, celebrating the filmmakers, athletes, women and cultural pioneers who have transformed communities, institutions and culture across Britain, the Caribbean and the wider Black diaspora — and the generations continuing that legacy today.
The London programme, co-presented with Black History Walks and African Odysseys, begins on September 24 with a special pre-screening event, followed on September 26 by WICFF’s official opening double bill, with screenings at 2 pm and 5 pm.
Running through October 30, 2026, WICFF will continue across the United Kingdom, Canada and Trinidad & Tobago, bringing together films, filmmakers and audiences across its international programme.
CHANGING THE GAME: REPARATIONS — SEPTEMBER 24, 6:30 pm
WICFF begins its London programme with a special pre-screening of The Price of Memory, Jamaican filmmaker Karen Mafundikwa’s award-winning documentary exploring slavery, colonialism, historical memory and the struggle for reparations.
It screens alongside Raymond T. Williams’ short film The Border Czar,
opening a wider conversation about who gets to decide which people belong.
OFFICIAL WICFF OPENING — SEPTEMBER 26 CHANGING THE GAME: PIONEERS — 2 PM
The official WICFF Opening Screening celebrates pioneering Black British filmmaker Sir Horace Ové with a special presentation of his much-loved comedy Playing Away.
Following a West Indian cricket team from Brixton as they travel to play in an English village, the film uses cricket and humour to explore culture clash, identity and belonging.
Ové’s work is paired with a new generation of filmmakers through Ackee and Saltfish, directed by UK filmmaker Jasmin Nunes, and Breath of Another, directed by fellow Brit Sheridan Seraphin.
The September 24 pre-screening and September 26 opening screening at 2 pm are hosted by African Odysseys, celebrating 20 years of bringing African, Caribbean, Black British and diasporic cinema to London audiences.
CHANGING THE GAME: BLACK ATHLETIC EXCELLENCE — 5 PM
WICFF’s official opening double bill continues with a focus on Black Athletic Excellence as a space of achievement, resistance and social change.
Redefined: Black History of Boxing, by Kane Dunn, traces more than 200 years of Black British boxing and the generations of fighters who challenged racial barriers both in and out of the ring.
It screens alongside Breaking Barriers: The Paula Dunn Olympic Story, Kane Dunn’s celebration of the Jamaican-British Olympian, mother, coach and pioneering leader who helped transform British athletics.
Together, the films honour athletes who entered institutions that were not built for them — and changed those institutions from within.
This screening is hosted by Black History Walks.
CHANGING THE GAME: CHILDREN OF THE WINDRUSH
Further films, screenings, special guests and programme announcements will be revealed shortly.
TONY WARNER, BLACK HISTORY WALKS:
“Film is one of the most powerful ways of recovering Black history that too often gets left out of the official story. These screenings — on reparations, boxing, cricket, cinema and resistance — show how Caribbean people and their descendants have continually changed Britain.
- Tony Warner, Founder, Black History Walks
WICFF FOUNDER FRANCES-ANNE SOLOMON :
“The Windrush generation arrived, but the story did not stop there. Their children and the generations that followed stepped into the frame and changed the world — through cinema, music, sport, culture and public life. This year we celebrate the people who changed the game: the pioneers who walked through doors that were closed to them, and the generations who came behind them and broke those doors down. Our opening programmes begin that conversation — and there is much more still to come.”
– Frances-Anne Solomon, Founder WICFF
ABOUT THE WINDRUSH INTERNATIONAL CARIBBEAN FILM FESTIVAL
One festival. Many communities. One big global story.
The Windrush International Caribbean Film Festival (WICFF) is an international platform celebrating Black diasporic cinema from the UK, Canada, the Caribbean
and beyond. Taking the Windrush moment as its starting point, WICFF connects the history and legacy of Caribbean migration with the wider global journeys of Black communities, bringing landmark films into conversation with bold contemporary voices.
See more at:
WCIFF Partners
