Movies: British colonialism

This documentary explores the history of Canada’s first major migration of non-European and non-white refugees who arrived in 1972 when Ugandan President Idi Amin expelled all South Asians from the country. Their story of struggle and hope became par...

In 1880 South Africa, young Betsy has an adventure involving Zulu Tribesmen, Dutch Settlers, The Vortrekkers, and her older brother's romance of Katie Snee....

Freedom, Nigeria's contribution to the 1957 Berlin Film Festival, was based on a play commissioned by the Moral Re-Armament Association. Based on a stage piece, the film is an unabashed paean to the MRA, demonstrating how the organization helped to c...

Sunshine, an idyllic and almost forgotten island under British rule, is shortly to become independent. But a few days before this event is to take place, the British governor of the island is shot. Her Majesty's secret service is called in and Sam Mc...

Shot with Malaysian skinheads in Penang, it’s a meditative fantasy on signs, signals and butterflies, leading to pointed reflections on the relationship between British colonial history and popular culture in South-East Asia...

On the day of his grandma’s funeral, 17-year-old Red faces multi-generational demons in this surreal horror film exploring colonial trauma and Black family histories....

At the beginning of the 1960s, in Salisbury (now Harare), in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), the government of Ian Smith hanged three black revolutionaries who had nevertheless been pardoned by the Queen of England. René Vautier, with ZAPU (Zimbabw...

The painful story of Ireland and the Irish people, who struggled for centuries to free themselves from the tyrannical clutches of the British Empire; an epic tale of poverty, hunger, despair, violence and unyielding courage....

There is an interlinking history of violent European colonialism and the cultural legacy of ethnographic collections in institutions. This documentary traces the progression of colonial history from the Berlin Conference of 1884-85 to the systematic ...

This 1944 black and white silent film provides brief glimpses of the lifestyle among Kenya's white/European settlers during the Second World War....

This portait of life on the tea plantations is decidedly rosy – clearly, there are no exploited workers here. However, the film provides an intriguing overview of tea production – from the planting of tea seeds to the final shipping of the precious l...

As part of the 2017 UK-India Year of Culture, the British Council and British Film Institute share a unique collection of films documenting the sights and culture of a bygone India. Filmed between 1899-1947, and preserved in the BFI National Archive ...

Star-crossed lovers, Robert and Ariana, are caught up in the New Zealand wars of the 1860s. Ariana is claimed by the Maniapoto people as one of their own and, despite Robert's chivalrous defence, is taken by them and must help them prepare for war...

Made in 1940 and sponsored by the Ministry of Information this film shows the food contributions supplied to Britain by various colonies and dominions. 'Food from the Empire highlights the severity of the food issue, by discussing food production as ...