Death May Be Your Santa Claus

Frankie Dymon’s Death May be Your Santa Claus (1969), arguably Britain’s first and only example of a ‘black power’ movie, in which themes of sexual and political identity encircle one another in the context of a hip and hippy London of the late 1960s, suspended between the cinematic radicalisms of films such as Roeg’s Performance, Godard’s Sympathy for the Devil in which Dymon played a leading role, or Boorman’s Leo the Last.

In a discussion of the film, which will be shown in full, David Dibosa will consider the possible relations between political and sexual fantasies of freedom and the resolution of discrimination through the presence or the exclusion of the queer as a critical index of political possibilities. Chaired by Adrian Rifkin.

This film is rated 18 – suitable only for adults. It is 37 minutes long.

Film Synopsis: A black student, sent down for failing his exams has, a fantasy affair with a girl on the telephone who sounds white but turns out to be black.

David Dibosa is a researcher at Wimbledon college of Art. He trained to be a curator, working closely with some of the key figures in Britain’s Black Arts Movement, such as Sonia Boyce, Marlene Smith and Maxine Walker.

Adrian Rifkin is professor of art writing at Goldsmiths, University of London.

This event is part of Blasphemy and Redemption, a series of talks and screenings curated and chaired by Adrian Rifkin in response to Roee Rosen: Vile, Evil Veil.

Book online

Book online here. If you have enquiries please call 0207 749 1240 or email bookings@rivingtonplace.org.

NB. For a concessionary rate (students, over 60s, unemployed) please enter the promotional code iniva_concession. For group bookings of more than 4 people please contact Rivington Place reception.