One of the most important British films of the 1970s and an enduringly potent document on the social conditions known by West Indian immigrant families, Horace Ové’s fiction feature debut chronicles the experience of Tony, a young man caught between his parents’ submissiveness and his brother’s militancy. As Tony’s professional prospects grow ever dimmer, he finds community with other young Black Brits whose sense of social alienation has driven them into the streets in search of purpose and enrichment. Mesmerizingly performed by a cast of professional and non-professional actors, Pressure remains a richly forceful work of political cinema that examines the formation of identity by Black British people within a miserably racist society. A Janus Films release.

Restored by the BFI National Archive and The Film Foundation. Funding provided by the Hobson/Lucas Family Foundation. Pressure will have a joint restoration World Premiere at the BFI London Film Festival in partnership with American Express at BFI Southbank and as a Revivals selection at the 61st New York Film Festival on October 11.

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