A young filmmaker from Liverpool has beaten 150 competitors to win a national competition and a £15,000 budget for her next production.
Amber Akaunu, 25, from Toxteth, triumphed in a competition held by production agency Shoot the Company (STC), with her documentary: 0151: Liverpool, Rap & Politics. Directed and co-produced by Amber, the short documentary delves into the political history of Liverpool, which is home to Europe’s oldest Black community.
The film brings together two generations of rappers, Kevin Philemon and MC Nelson, united by their Nigerian heritage and South Liverpool upbringing. The film uses archive footage and music to explore how the city's rappers have used their music as a form of radical expression.
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Amber told the ECHO : "I’ve always been an admirer of rap and its ability to tell stories and my main inspirations are Tupac and Stormzy. I especially like Dave who performed his song (Black) at the Brit Awards in 2020 which mentioned the Prime Minister, which caused a lot of discussion about race and other issues."
The film is presented by Nelson Idama (MC Nelson) and includes Kevin Philemon (K-Delight) Mervyn Lynch (DJ2Kind) and Chantelle Lunt (community activist and founder of Merseyside Black Lives Matter) The two generations of rappers and the landscape of rap are explored from the 1980s onwards by young presenter MC Nelson.
Amber said: "Kevin is my father’s best friend and an uncle figure in my life and growing up I had heard little bits of information from family members about his hip-hop career and record shop. I wanted to find out more about my uncle and the pioneers of Liverpool rap and particularly how they responded to the political upheavals in Liverpool in the 80s and 90s.
"I was working in politics during the 2019 general election and remember returning to my hotel room after observing a count. The TV news stated Boris had landed the biggest victory seen since Thatcher.
"This made me wonder whether things had changed in the past four decades and whether rappers like MC Nelson (the presenter) and Kevin Philemon’s hip-hop group, Bantu, could teach us anything about these changes, or lack of changes, here in Liverpool".
DJ2Kind said: "Growing up hip hop and rap was mainly about partying and having a good time. As I listened more and came across artists like KRS 1 and Chuck D from Public enemy they were talking about issues about race, politics and culture. As an up and coming rapper myself I started to look at my own environment, my own city and some of the problems that are faced on an everyday basis, be it from the police or from other groups. We would sort of put that into our music, how we see it from our point of view”.
Amber, is a Liverpool born Nigerian-German filmmaker who completed her fine art degree with a first in 2018 at Liverpool Hope University. She has recently graduated with a masters in documentary filmmaking with a scholarship from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) at Goldsmiths University of London.
Amber said for the future: "I definitely want to be a director (of feature documentaries) and tell people stories and explore Liverpool as there is so much history here. I’m going to Nigeria and Brazil to make a documentary about my family history funded by Arts Council England.”
A spokesperson from STC said: "Amber wanted to make a film about the story of the oldest Black community in Europe in her hometown of Liverpool, through the lens of rap. It has been a joy for our team to work with Amber and help make her brilliant film 0151: Liverpool, Rap & Politics”.
For more information visit www.amberakaunu.com and to view the film https://lnkd.in/dXemf8EM
