by Rachel Ogbu//
Nigerian-British Dele Aro is the founder of Amacoast Cinema, an experimental cinema company focused on Black film in the United Kingdom. The brand was born out of the desire to see more black stories told on both the big and small screen.
The company now creates exclusive and celebratory cinema experiences around black film while combining live performers and establishing an environment to socialise with friends.
Dele Aro describes being frustrated by the lack of diverse black images in mainstream media – too often the same narrow images are projected: athlete, criminal/gangster, musician and the comedic personality (arguably the images of black women are even more narrow). “What I find most concerning is the potential impact these narrow stereotypes have in terms of the expectations we (the black community) set for ourselves and the expectations set for us by others. I see Amacoast as in the very early steps of a journey to tackling this problem head on and ‘cinema’ being a great way to showcase and celebrate diverse black images,” he said.
He started Amacoast eight years ago while studying Business Management. It first started as Amacoast.com, a DVD distribution platform for Black Films. “I started off trying to sell DVD’s from America.” Dele tells BlackHistoryMonth.org.uk. “The problem was that I relied on the exchange rate to make my margin. Once the exchange rate flipped – I had to raise my prices and that meant taking it to £18. Naturally, it meant a drop in orders because the independent films were more expensive than the blockbusters.”
“Critics seem to think that films with a Black lead won’t sell. Now whilst America is going through a very different social aspect with race, it seems to be an excuse for them not to push Black Films,” he continues.
On April 21, 2017, Dele Aro’s Amacoast launched the Sister Act Live Choir show (stemming from the Sister Act, 1992 musical comedy classic) which was presented at the historic Central Hall Westminster in London. 
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