by Rachel Ogbu//

Nigerian-British filmmaker Shola Amoo, 32, is speaking about the issues of gentrification raised in his new multimedia feature, A Moving Image.

The National Film and Television School graduate is looking at how London is changing with locals having no choice but to move away as the city becomes more expensive and elitist. His feature debut looks at the current regeneration of Brixton which he says there’s a question mark over whether gentrification is and the nature of change. “I was aware of the potential hypocrisy that exists being an artist and making a film about gentrification – especially in our perceived role as being the first wave of gentrification. My immediate reaction was to think that my blackness protected me from any claim – but does it? I wanted to explore the nuance of blackness in the UK and it’s unique relationship with art and class,” he tells The Guardian. “I think change is inevitable but gentrification isn’t – if we really value culture and diversity, surely some investment can be made to protect it. Or do we want a situation where only people from a certain social-economic bracket get to live in London?”

Shola Amoo has been elevating in status as a refined filmmaker with The Guardian saying his recent film is a film Spike Lee might have made about Brixton. His graduate film Touch won Shooting People’s Film of The Month competition,  A Moving Image received The Special Recognition Award at The Blackstar Film Festival in Philadelphia and was released in the UK  theatres on the 28th April 2017 through Verve Pictures.

“Film has the power to be transformative. It can communicate ideas about places you have no idea about and connect to your world.  What’s happening economically and socially in London, is the same thing happening in Bed-Stuy and throughout Brooklyn where you are, and in Harlem and San Francisco.  But not everyone is aware of that,” he says in an interview with Indiewire.

Rachel Ogbu

UK Based Strategic, multidisciplinary Writer with an eye for innovation and pixel perfection. MA in New Media and Internet Technologies. “Although my skill set is vast, my greatest expertise revolve in the worlds of social media, content creation and print collateral. My wish is to combine my knowledge and experience in these areas, to deliver the best creative to my employer’s clients and their audiences.”