Benjamin Zephaniah

Benjamin Zephaniah

Birth : 1958-04-15, Handsworth, Birmingham, England, UK

History

Benjamin Obadiah Iqbal Zephaniah is a British writer, dub poet and Rastafarian. He was included in The Times list of Britain's top 50 post-war writers in 2008.

Profile

Benjamin Zephaniah

Movies

Cold War Steve Meets the Outside World
Self
Film following the acclaimed Birmingham based artist, known for his controversial satirical collages, as he embarks on a UK wide outdoor art installation.
Making the Connection
Himself
The film features eleven diverse contributors, which helps to maintain the upbeat pace and we included music from two Internationally renowned vegan hip-hop artists Promoe and Jah Sun to add to the contemporary feel of the film
Mad Dogs
Poet
London, one year from today... The dogs of England are dying, of "Mad Dog Disease," and Rabbie Burns, young drifter and certified schizophrenic, is hearing voices again - on Underground trains, over supermarket tannoys, and on his own T.V. He has 30 hours, a last weekend, to save the world from itself, before the "Supreme Being" himself loses patience and starts over, with a new species...
I Bring You Frankincense
Richard's father
"A rites of passage drama about a mixed race boy called Sunshine who leaves Guildford in [the] 1970's and moves to London." - BFI
Truth or Dairy
Self
This classic Vegan Society video remains one of the most entertaining and informative introductions to veganism. Viewers will learn why avoiding meat, leather, dairy and eggs is not only the most healthy way to live but also the most compassionate. Highly recommended for both existing vegans and anyone considering becoming a vegan.
Dread Poets' Society
Writer
Benjamin Zephaniah, renowned Rastafarian poet/rapper is traveling by train from Birmingham to Cambridge to receive his Creative Arts Fellowship sharing a carriage with a racist and philistine car spares salesman played by Timothy Spall; by chance the poets Keats, Byron, Shelley and writer Mary Shelley are transported from a séance they are conducting in The Villa Como by a freak electrical storm. A battle of wits, drug taking and poetry performance ensues!
Dread Poets' Society
Self
Benjamin Zephaniah, renowned Rastafarian poet/rapper is traveling by train from Birmingham to Cambridge to receive his Creative Arts Fellowship sharing a carriage with a racist and philistine car spares salesman played by Timothy Spall; by chance the poets Keats, Byron, Shelley and writer Mary Shelley are transported from a séance they are conducting in The Villa Como by a freak electrical storm. A battle of wits, drug taking and poetry performance ensues!
Didn't You Kill My Brother?
Rufus
Carl Moss leaves jail,where he has taken the rap for his evil twin Sterling,and has been declared a model prisoner. Pauline Sneek,his probation officer - and girlfriend - gets him community work teaching youngsters how to lead law-abiding lives. This displeases Sterling,as he needs the young delinquents for his bicycle stealing ring.
Time and Judgement: A Diary of a 400 Year Exile
Street Corner Poet 1
Time and Judgement is a sci-fi/documentary that combines biblical prophecy with events across the African diaspora between 1980 and 1987. Archive footage includes Haile Selassie, Bob Marley, Kwame Nkrumah, Maurice Bishop, Walter Rodney, Kwame Toure, Bernie Grant.
Who Killed Colin Roach?
Who Killed Colin Roach? is Isaac Julien's first film, which reflects upon the death of Colin Roach, a 23 year old who was shot at the entrance of a police station in East London, in 1982. Even though the police claimed Roach had commited suicide, evidence showed otherwise. Isaac Julien says that this work is essentially a response to the riots, an answer to certain fixed ways of looking at black cultures, but also at those ways we might feel about ourselves.