Overview
Henry G. Martin (Henry Goule Martin) (3 April 1952 – 13 May 2022) was a Black British independent filmmaker in the 1980s and early 1990s. In addition to directing and producing films, he is known for starting the production company Kuumba in 1982 along with filmmakers Menelik Shabazz and Imruh Bakari, which later led to the founding of the noted Ceddo Film and Video Workshop.
Early life
Henry Goule Martin was born to Trinidadian parents Claude and Vida Martin in Lewisham, southeast London, in 1952. When Martin was three months old, he returned with his parents to Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. He spent his formative years immersed in Carnival culture in the Woodbrook neighbourhood of western Port of Spain. He discovered his connection to Pan-African ideology among this creative arts scene and the city's anti-colonial street culture. Martin returned to England in the early 1970s and studied film at the West Surrey College of Art and Design, Farnham.
Ceddo Film and Video Workshop
Martin worked closely with Ceddo as a producer and mentor. Some of the films produced by the workshop include Milton Bryan's The People’s Account (1985); Shabazz's Step Forward Youth (1977), Blood Ah Go Run (1982), and Time and Judgement: Diaries of a 400 Year Exile (1988); the late D. Elmina Davies’ Omega Rising: Women of Rastafari (1988); Bakari's Blue Notes and Exiled Voices (1991) and The Mark of the Hand (1987).
Film and television work
While remaining devoted to Black independent film, Martin also worked in the broader British film industry, for example, directing a season of Everybody Here, an early 1980s children's television programme presented by the poet Michael Rosen. He would eventually leave filmmaking due to allegations from the film industry that Grove Music supported violent confrontations between the racist police and the Black community. After the release of Big George is Dead, Martin decided to retire from filmmaking, feeling that seeking the support of the film industry would betray his independence and radicalism.
Personal life
With his former wife, Shirley, Martin had a son and daughter.
External links
* Henry Martin at BFI.