Movies: British colonialism

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....

Set in 1815, this is the dramatic story of a child of the fur trade, son of a Native mother and a Scottish-Canadian fur trader. John Mackenzie's father is a wintering partner of the Montréal-based North West Company, which was for decades the wealthi...

A documentary that traces the life and times of Bhagat Singh, a committed Marxist who most ably exemplified the spirit of revolutionary resistance against British imperialism in undivided India....

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...

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...

Stories of Waitara combines oral histories, state of the art animations and powerful dramatic re-enactments to bring to life the narratives of Te Ātiawa in their epic battle against the military might of the British Empire. Created and presented by ...

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....

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...

A documentary that traces the life and times of Bhagat Singh, a committed Marxist who fought against British imperialism in undivided India and most ably exemplified the spirit of revolutionary resistance in the struggle for freedom....

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...

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 ...

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...