Film
A Story of Bones (12A) + introduction with Helen Thomas
Black History Month at Plymouth Arts Cinema With Support from Cornwall and Devon Creative Collective (CoDeCC CIC)
Stories shape the way in which we understand our past, present and imagine our futures. They also inform our sense of connection and identity. Black History Month 2024 focuses upon the contributions of global majority communities across the UK as storytellers, historians and custodians of cultural heritage. Written and directed by contemporary black filmmakers, these films explore the rich, complex and diverse experiences and histories of individuals and groups living in Britain and British Overseas Territories.
Saint Helena island, a tiny British Overseas Territory in the middle of the South Atlantic Ocean, is so remote that the only means of arrival is the world’s last Royal Mail Ship, a six-day journey from Cape Town. For centuries Saint Helena has existed in near isolation from the rest of the world, a potent symbol of Britain’s colonial past, epitomized by its most famous tourist attraction – Napoleon Bonaparte’s empty tomb. As the Environmental Officer for Saint Helena’s troubled £285m airport project, Annina Van Neel learned of the island’s most terrible atrocity, an unmarked mass burial ground of an estimated 9,000 formerly enslaved Africans. It is one of the most significant traces of the transatlantic slave trade still on earth. Haunted by this historical injustice, Annina fights alongside renowned African American preservationist Peggy King Jorde and a group of disenfranchised islanders, many of them descendants of enslaved people, for the proper memorialization of these forgotten victims. The resistance they face exposes disturbing truths about the UK’s colonial past – and present.
In charting her years-long journey to this moment of catharsis, A Story of Bones documents Annina’s extraordinary transformation from a disempowered bystander to an undaunted social justice activist, and one who is determined to advocate for a community that has long been denied a voice.
For detailed information about the film's age rating and content notices, you can visit the BBFC website and search the film title, then scroll down to the “Content Advice” section: www.bbfc.co.uk
Stories shape the way in which we understand our past, present and imagine our futures. They also inform our sense of connection and identity. Black History Month 2024 focuses upon the contributions of global majority communities across the UK as storytellers, historians and custodians of cultural heritage. Written and directed by contemporary black filmmakers, these films explore the rich, complex and diverse experiences and histories of individuals and groups living in Britain and British Overseas Territories.
A Story of Bones (12A) + introduction with Helen Thomas
Dir. Joseph Curran and Dominic Aubrey de Vere, UK/US, 2024, 95 mins.Saint Helena island, a tiny British Overseas Territory in the middle of the South Atlantic Ocean, is so remote that the only means of arrival is the world’s last Royal Mail Ship, a six-day journey from Cape Town. For centuries Saint Helena has existed in near isolation from the rest of the world, a potent symbol of Britain’s colonial past, epitomized by its most famous tourist attraction – Napoleon Bonaparte’s empty tomb. As the Environmental Officer for Saint Helena’s troubled £285m airport project, Annina Van Neel learned of the island’s most terrible atrocity, an unmarked mass burial ground of an estimated 9,000 formerly enslaved Africans. It is one of the most significant traces of the transatlantic slave trade still on earth. Haunted by this historical injustice, Annina fights alongside renowned African American preservationist Peggy King Jorde and a group of disenfranchised islanders, many of them descendants of enslaved people, for the proper memorialization of these forgotten victims. The resistance they face exposes disturbing truths about the UK’s colonial past – and present.
In charting her years-long journey to this moment of catharsis, A Story of Bones documents Annina’s extraordinary transformation from a disempowered bystander to an undaunted social justice activist, and one who is determined to advocate for a community that has long been denied a voice.
For detailed information about the film's age rating and content notices, you can visit the BBFC website and search the film title, then scroll down to the “Content Advice” section: www.bbfc.co.uk
