No Shade

It's a depressing state of affairs that respected dermatologist Clare Anyiam-Osigwe is only the sixth black British woman director to have a feature released in the UK. But she makes a fine impression behind and in front of the camera in this astute assessment of colourism. In addition to writing and directing, Anyiam-Osigwe also plays the best friend of 28-year-old Jade (Adele Oni), a freelance photographer desperately in love with a boyfriend (Kadeem Pearse) who prefers partners with lighter skin, like the feisty Andrea (Sharea Samuels). Jade wishes she could find someone like her friend's fiancé (Algie Salmon-Fattahian) but winds up enduring a series of disastrous dates with the likes of the braying Dominic (Fred Lancaster), who regards a black girlfriend as something of a trophy. Addressing the issues with a measured maturity that avoids browbeating, this is an engaging study of the problems and prejudices facing black British women both within their own communities and in a supposedly enlightened society at large.