Film Africa and Deaffest partner to bring British Sign Language, Hip Hop and Visual Vernacular Art Form into the Mainstream

Film Africa 2020 is delighted to announce a partnership with the UK’s leading Deaf-led Film and Arts Festival, partnering for the first time to present HERE / NOT HERE,  an online event around Director Bim Ajadi’s latest work bringing hip hop, British Sign Language (BSL) and visual vernacular (VV) art form into the mainstream.  

Film Africa and Deaffest will host this special Online Watch Party as part of Film Africa, which returns to London for its 9th edition from Friday 30 October to Sunday 8 November 2020. Audiences will have the opportunity to watch HERE / NOT Here online at BSL Zone and then hear from the film’s cast and crew during a BSL-interpreted panel discussion  live-streamed on the Film Africa, Deaffest and BSL Zone Facebook pages.

HERE/NOT HERE, is a brand-new British, Deaf hip hop drama exploring British Sign Language, Krump street dance, football and Visual Vernacular – the choreographed and poetic form of sign language. It brings together a diverse creative team and company from Deaf and hearing communities and is directed by award-winning filmmaker and Deaf artist Bim Ajadi whose recent works include docu-drama Dot and short film 4. Written by Jonzi D, Artistic Director of the annual hip hop dance and theatre festival Breakin’ Convention, the film is a unique collaboration with the film’s professional and non-professional, Deaf and hearing cast. 

HERE/NOT HERE is an urban, funny and thought-provoking hip hop drama film, which sees three rival groups – Deaf VVers, footballers and Krumpers – clash over who should use an abandoned warehouse space. Despite their differences, they find and inspire a common language through movement to communicate, collaborate and come together. 

Director Bim Ajadi said: “HERE/NOT HERE is about fear of invasion of a space. The message of this film is not to be too quick to judge strangers, once you’ve crossed that line in getting to know a person more, you might be surprised by how much you have in common, how you’ve learned something new, how much you feel valued. This is about being open-minded and trying to accept and appreciate new and different people.”