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'Film is an act of love from the whole community'

Angelle Joseph & Katy Prickett
BBC News, Cambridgeshire
Kenny Monrose/Seetha Tan Orelene Williams, the manager of Orlene's Cafe & Kitchen. She is leaning forward onto a counter with a coffee machine behind her. Her black and white hair is pulled back from her forehead and she is smiling.Kenny Monrose/Seetha Tan
Orlene Williams, whose Cafe & Kitchen offers Caribbean-inspired cookery, is one of the "town" businesses which took part in the film

An alternative story of a university city has been told in a film looking at the voices and experiences of its black students and residents.

Black Town & Gown was directed by Kenny Monrose and Seetha Tan from the University of Cambridge's sociology department.

Ms Tan said while the university had begun recovering its black history, it had tended to overlook "the importance of the [city's] black community and residents".

The project has been "just a huge act of love from the whole community and a testimony about the power of community", she said.

Matt Hoisch A Seetha Tan looks directly at the camera. She has dark hair and is wearing gold hoop earrings. Matt Hoisch
Sociology PhD student Seetha Tan helped direct the film, which she says has changed her own experience of living in Cambridge

Ms Tan is a PhD student and says she previously felt the city was "a transient place".

"The university is often considered quite a white space and quite an isolating space - little did the students know that just on the other side of the gown was this really, really rich connected community," she said, since creating the film with Dr Monrose.

She paid tribute to businesses such as Harmony Hair Salon on Norfolk Street, off Mill Road, and Orlene's Cafe Kitchen on Peas Hill in the city centre, for taking part.

Another participant, Jenni Skinner, has shared her experiences of "town" and "gown".

She is the African specialist and library manager of the university's African Studies Library, but is also long-term resident who moved to the city in 1997.

Nicole Howard Jenni Skinner who face is in profile. She has a blue and yellow scarf rapped around her head, pulling back her curling dark hair. The white collar of her shirt and grey jacket can just be glimpsed. Behind her is grass and a wall of glass. Nicole Howard
Academic and city resident Jenni Skinner said she is lucky to live in "a city that has family and friends who reflect me in terms of music and culture"

"I could go home [after work] and be with family and friends, people from very diverse backgrounds and have that life," Ms Skinner said.

"But once I got to African Studies, I realised how difficult that was for students who have got a black background, but felt completely disconnected... especially if it's been their first time in the UK."

She said she urges them to go to the Mill Road area of Cambridge telling them: "You'll find your people, you'll find the food that you like, you'll find the products that you like - you'll just not feel like you're standing out."

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