Pressure

Horace Ové became the first Black British person to direct a feature film when he unleashed this searing and honest portrait of London in 1976. Now beautifully restored, Pressure is the story of Tony (Herbert Norville), coming of age and at a crossroads. His mother urges him to settle down, while his brother is calling for black uprising, bridling at a white establishment that rejects him. Where is Tony’s place in the mess of modern Britain?

Director Ové – who sadly passed away earlier this year – did more than blaze a trail with his debut feature; Pressure is a gripping portrait that reflects Britain back to itself, with truths still hard to swallow nearly fifty years after its release.