[Film Screening] UK Premiere of Jamel Shabazz: Street Photographer documentary – June 18th @ The BFI

My introduction to the world of photography and hip hop came by way of two photographers. Ernie Pannicoli and Jamel Shabazz. Their work combined the two things I was passionate about whilst at college and luckily for me (or unluckily for my employers at the time) I worked at Borders which meant I had access to Shabazz’s and a whole selection of other photographers at my fingertips.

Although I didn’t choose to become a photographer as my main profession, I make sure I document my surroundings which ever country I’m in and have had the opportunity to photograph a number of events since my college days which I feel capture a particular scene and culture of people in the way Shabazz’s work did then and still resonates now.

Sonic Cinema is excited to present the UK premiere of this documentary from celebrated hip-hop historian and director, Charlie Ahearn. As a teenage photographer in early 80s Brooklyn, Jamel Shabazz set out to document the then nascent hip-hop movement. Ahearn takes us on a modern day and very personal journey with Shabazz as he revisits old neighbourhoods and talks to friends and colleagues about life in New York, hip-hop culture and its 30-year history.

The UK Premiere which takes place on June 18th at the BFI also includes a Q&A with the film’s director Charlier Ahearn.

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