uk’s first black documentary filmmaker to be immortalized in digitized archives

Clovis Salmon, AKA “Sam the Wheels,” is a first generation Jamaican who has been making films since the late 1940’s. Sam documented the influences of Caribbean culture as these communities established themselves across the U.K. Sam’s historical archive consists of his films of the 1980’s uprisings, street life, weddings, funerals, baptisms and other events that tell the story of the Windrush generation. A part of his archive was digitized in in 2008 for the project People, Signs, Resistance, and it is currently on show as part of the ‘Making Jamaica’ exhibition at Autograph ABP. However the majority of this work still needs to be rescued and digitised before it is accessible to the public.

This Kickstarter project is raising funds in order to preserve Sam’s films “as an essential slice of Black and Caribbean British heritage,” and has already raised $2,118 with 30 days to go.

By Hari Ziyad, AFROPUNK Contributor

Save Sam’s Shots – Film archive of Brixton life since 1960