The media and entertainment industries have been accused of having a tokenistic approach to casting, but what does it actually mean to be more representative and how can we do better to get it right?
Join us for this lively discussion, presented in collaboration with The Conduit and Google and hosted by award-winning journalist Afua Hirsch, as we explore the key differences between representation and tokenism and respond to the all-important opening question – “Should the next James Bond be Black?”
Afua Hirsch is an award-winning writer, broadcaster and former barrister who is known for her work on social justice, black culture, history and identity. Afua has worked as a journalist for more than twenty years, as a Guardian correspondent and freelance contributor to publications including the New York Times, Time Magazine and Vogue. She presents and produces non scripted TV documentaries, including African Renaissance, a BBC series on African art, and Enslaved, a 6 part series about the transatlantic slave trade with Samuel L Jackson, and a podcast series for Audible. In 2018 she published Brit(ish): On Race, Identity and Belonging – winner of the Royal Society of Literature Jerwood Prize – and in 2019 a children’s book Equal To Everything, about the UK Supreme Court. She was a judge on last year’s Booker Prize and is currently the Wallis Annenberg Chair of Journalism at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. Afua is the founder of Born in Me Productions, which creates scripted and non-scripted movies, TV and podcast.
Speakers include:
Clint Dyer is the Deputy Artistic Director of The Royal National Theatre. This year, he will direct Get Up Stand Up on the West End. Most recently, he penned and directed the widely anticipated Death of England for the National Theatre starring Rafe Spall. Over the course of his extensive acting career, Clint has featured across film, television and theatre. He starred on stage in the National Theatre’s Oliver-winning production of Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, directed by Dominic Cook, for which he won best actor in the I.A.R. Awards. Awards include Best Actor at the British Urban Film Awards, Screen Nation Film and Television Awards, Liege International Film Festival, and The Texas Black Film Festival for SUS.
Adjoa Andoh is one of Britain’s leading actors, having won global acclaim as Lady Danbury in the Netflix smash Bridgerton – a role that saw her nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actress at the 2021 NAACP Image Awards. On the small screen in 2020, she was spellbinding as Dr Issacs in the psychological thriller Fractured, as well playing tough cop DI Nina Rosen in BBC1’s Silent Witness. The end of 2021 saw her star as Nenneke in the Netflix blockbuster fantasy drama, The Witcher. Her many other television appearances include regulars in Dr Who, Casualty and Law & Order UK. She made her Hollywood debut in 2009, starring alongside Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon in Clint Eastwood’s biographical sports film Invictus. A renowned stage actor, Adjoa has been celebrated for lead roles at the National Theatre, The Royal Shakespeare Company and Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. She is a proud patron of the Fairtrade Foundation and Tree Aid. And in 2019 she conceived, co-directed, and played Richard II at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, in the UK’s first all women-of-colour production.
Speakers subject to change.
When: October 21st, 6:00pm-7:30pm
Where: The Conduit, 6 Langley St, London, WC2H 9JA
To attend the event, we are asking for just a small donation of any amount, to the Visionary Arts Foundation. We are a not-for-profit organisation & any donation you can make will help us fund our events, mentoring schemes and annual running costs.
For tickets visit https://blackjamesbond.eventbrite.co.uk
