Burning an Illusion

Burning an Illusion is a 1981 British film written and directed by Menelik Shabazz, about a young British-born black woman's love life, mostly shot in London's Notting Hill and Ladbroke Grove communities.[1] It was only the second British feature to have been made by a black director, following Horace Ové's Pressure (1975),[2][3] and is described by Stephen Bourne as "the first British film to give a black woman a voice of any kind."[4] Imruh Bakari worked with Shabazz and co-founded Kumba Productions with him.

Burning an Illusion, according to Ade Solanke on the British Film Institute's Screenonline website, avoids "the tradition of placing white males at the center of a story". It is also rare example of prioritizing the personal drama of black woman over the socio-economic and political conflicts as "it's about black people who aren't radical". As Solanke writes: "Like all drama, the film is about characters facing conflicts. ... [F]or most of the story it dramatises personal conflicts, not socio-economic or political ones."[1]

It is available at the British Film Institute.[5]