Benjamin Zephaniah

Acting

Benjamin Zephaniah

Born 1958-04-15 · Handsworth, Birmingham, England, UK

Benjamin Obadiah Iqbal Zephaniah (April 15, 1958 - December 7, 2023) was a British writer, dub poet and Rastafarian. He was included in The Times list of Britain's top 50 post-war writers in 2008.

Acting credits

Dread Poets' Society poster
NR

Benjamin Zephaniah, renowned Rastafarian poet/rapper is traveling by train from Birmingham to Cambridge to receive his Creative Arts Fellowship sharing a carriage with a racist and philistine car spares salesman played by Timothy Spall; by chance the poets Keats, Byron, Shelley and writer Mary Shelley are transported from a séance they are conducting in The Villa Como by a freak electrical storm. A battle of wits, drug taking and poetry performance ensues!

Dread Poets' Society

1992

Farendj poster
3.8

A young man travels with his French girlfriend to Ethiopia. Whilst there he discovers a house in which the French poet Rimbaud once lived and he becomes obsessed with finding out more information about him.

Farendj

1991

Mad Dogs poster
4.8

London, one year from today... The dogs of England are dying, of "Mad Dog Disease," and Rabbie Burns, young drifter and certified schizophrenic, is hearing voices again - on Underground trains, over supermarket tannoys, and on his own T.V. He has 30 hours, a last weekend, to save the world from itself, before the "Supreme Being" himself loses patience and starts over, with a new species...

Mad Dogs

2002

Peaky Blinders: Rambert’s The Redemption of Thomas Shelby poster
0.5

Opening in the trenches of Flanders, a personal story unfolds in postwar industrial Birmingham as the Shelby family navigate the decisions that determine their fate, and Tommy is intoxicated by mysterious newcomer Grace. While Tommy is building his empire, Grace is operating as an undercover agent for Special Branch on a mission to get close to the heart of Tommy’s gang. As the story unfolds, hearts are broken, and revenge is sought.

Peaky Blinders: Rambert’s The Redemption of Thomas Shelby

2024

Language is the Key poster
NR

This documentary is constructed in two parts. Part one deals with the suppression of other ‘minority’ cultures, part two looks at the ways these cultures are fighting back. The film includes contributions from Prof. Stuart Hall (The Open University), Prof, Bikkhu Parekh (Commission for Racial Equality), Prof. Gwyn Williams (Historian/Author), Benjamin Zephaniah (Poet), teachers and children, with experiences of Gujarati, Caribbean, Creole and Welsh.

Language is the Key

1985

No artwork available
NR

A look at the array of mysterious, quirky objects received by fashion designer Paul Smith and the effect they have had on his life.

PS Your Mystery Sender

2010

Didn't You Kill My Brother? poster
NR

Carl Moss leaves jail,where he has taken the rap for his evil twin Sterling,and has been declared a model prisoner. Pauline Sneek,his probation officer - and girlfriend - gets him community work teaching youngsters how to lead law-abiding lives. This displeases Sterling,as he needs the young delinquents for his bicycle stealing ring.

Didn't You Kill My Brother?

1988

I Bring You Frankincense poster
10.0

"A rites of passage drama about a mixed race boy called Sunshine who leaves Guildford in [the] 1970's and moves to London." - BFI

I Bring You Frankincense

1996

Benjamin Zephaniah | Pen Rhythm Poet poster
NR

Channel 4 documentary on the rastafarian poet which marked his TV debut.

Benjamin Zephaniah | Pen Rhythm Poet

1982

A Picture of Birmingham, by Benjamin Zephaniah poster
NR

Poet Benjamin Zephaniah revisits the place of his birth, Birmingham, on a mission to compose a new poem, which he will then read out on the streets of the city. While there, he watches Aston Villa and revisits the approved school he went to when he was a child.

A Picture of Birmingham, by Benjamin Zephaniah

2005

Truth or Dairy poster
NR

This classic Vegan Society video remains one of the most entertaining and informative introductions to veganism. Viewers will learn why avoiding meat, leather, dairy and eggs is not only the most healthy way to live but also the most compassionate. Highly recommended for both existing vegans and anyone considering becoming a vegan.

Truth or Dairy

1994

Cold War Steve Meets the Outside World poster
NR

Film following the acclaimed Birmingham based artist, known for his controversial satirical collages, as he embarks on a UK wide outdoor art installation.

Cold War Steve Meets the Outside World

2020

No artwork available
8.2

The film features eleven diverse contributors, which helps to maintain the upbeat pace and we included music from two Internationally renowned vegan hip-hop artists Promoe and Jah Sun to add to the contemporary feel of the film

Making the Connection

2010

Who Killed Colin Roach? poster
NR

Who Killed Colin Roach? is Isaac Julien's first film, which reflects upon the death of Colin Roach, a 23 year old who was shot at the entrance of a police station in East London, in 1982. Even though the police claimed Roach had commited suicide, evidence showed otherwise. Isaac Julien says that this work is essentially a response to the riots, an answer to certain fixed ways of looking at black cultures, but also at those ways we might feel about ourselves.

Who Killed Colin Roach?

1983

Time and Judgement: A Diary of a 400 Year Exile poster
8.0

Time and Judgement is a sci-fi/documentary that combines biblical prophecy with events across the African diaspora between 1980 and 1987. Archive footage includes Haile Selassie, Bob Marley, Kwame Nkrumah, Maurice Bishop, Walter Rodney, Kwame Toure, Bernie Grant.

Time and Judgement: A Diary of a 400 Year Exile

1988

Behind the camera