About

Cecile Emeke is a Jamaican-English filmmaker, writer, and artist from London, with a body of work spanning broadcast television, independent film, and visual art. Her work often explores themes of time, cosmology, and cultural production, particularly through the lens of the Black diasporic experience in liminal spaces and intimate settings, with a special focus on Black British, Caribbean, and Black diasporic culture.

Cecile is widely recognized for her versatility and dexterity, seamlessly exploring her interests across a range of mediums and genres, from comedy to documentary and experimental cinema to narrative drama.

Her creative journey began in 2014 with her debut narrative comedy short film Ackee & Saltfish and the online documentary series Strolling. This success led to her directing HBO's Insecure, Idris Elba's In The Long Run, and the Tate Modern commission The Ancestors Came, a piece on the life and work of artist Faith Ringgold.

Cecile is currently developing several projects, including her debut narrative feature film No Telephone to Heaven, a Black diasporic odyssey that merges speculative fiction with contemporary magical realism.

Her continued, diverse practice underscores her commitment to multiplicity in an industry that often enforces singularity and conformity, particularly for Black women.

With over a decade of industry experience, having witnessed systemic malpractice in her own career and that of her peers, Cecile is committed to fostering sustainable, healthy, and equitable work environments for artists and cultural workers. She is the founder of 274°, a creative agency that offers an integrative, holistic approach to cultural production, providing training and support to institutions, organizations, and individuals across sectors.

A passionate advocate for Black arts, Cecile also serves as a trustee for The Bernie Grant Arts Centre in Tottenham, a combined arts venue dedicated to promoting Black art and artists both locally and globally.

filmography
2014 legato, poetry short film, colour, digital, 2.09 min
2014 real recognise real, poetry short film, colour, digital, 2.31 min
2014 casually coiffed, poetry short film, colour, digital, 2.24 min
2014 fake deep, poetry short film, colour, digital, 9.01 min
2014 ackee & saltfish, short film, colour, digital, 18.09 min
2014 ackee & saltfish web series, episode 0: tennis, colour, digital, 1.39 min
2014 ackee & saltfish web series, episode 1: the tickets, colour, digital, 5.26 min
2014 ackee & saltfish web series, episode 2: breakfast, colour, digital, 5.03 min
2014 ackee & saltfish web series, episode 3: the carpet shop, colour, digital, 3.15 min
2014 ackee & saltfish web series, episode 4: the job interview, colour, digital, 4.57 min
2014 ackee & saltfish web series, episode 5: deception, colour, digital, 6.06 min
2014 strolling (uk), episode 1, colour, digital, 4.33 min
2014 strolling (uk), episode 2, colour, digital, 6.07 min
2014 strolling (uk), episode 3, colour, digital, 7.06 min
2014 strolling (uk), episode 4, colour, digital, 4.35 min
2014 strolling (uk), episode 5, colour, digital, 11.25 min
2014 strolling (uk), episode 6, colour, digital, 11.58 min
2014 strolling (uk), episode 7, colour, digital, 13.24 min
2014 strolling (uk), episode 8, colour, digital, 13.51 min
2014 strolling (uk), episode 9, colour, digital, 13.17 min
2014 strolling (uk), episode 10, colour, digital, 14.40 min
2014 strolling (uk), episode 11, colour, digital, 15.32 min
2014 strolling (uk), episode 12, colour, digital, 17.10 min
2014 strolling (uk), episode 13, colour, digital, 15.20 min
2015 flâner (fr), episode 1, colour, digital, 17.13 min
2015 flâner (fr), episode 2, colour, digital, 11.47 min
2015 flâner (fr), episode 3, colour, digital, 12.27 min
2015 flâner (fr), episode 4, colour, digital, 14.21 min
2015 wandelen (nl), episode 1, colour, digital, 18.22 min
2015 wandelen (nl), episode 2, colour, digital, 18.38 min
2015 wandelen (nl), episode 3, colour, digital, 9.36 min
2015 passeggiando (it), episode 1, colour, digital, 22.17 min
2015 passeggiando (it), episode 2, colour, digital, 9.33 min
2015 strolling (usa), episode 1, colour, digital, 15.33 min
2015 strolling (usa), episode 2, colour, digital, 22.33 min
2015 strolling (usa), episode 3, colour, digital, 18.28 min
2015 strolling: southbank edit, colour, digital, 8.59 min
2015 strolling: rich mix feature edit, colour, digital, 49.33 min
2015 lines (dazed), short film, documentary, colour, digital, 4.05 min
2016 strolling (ja), episode 1, colour, digital, 11.21 min
2016 wilton, ica x c4 random acts, short film, narrative, 4.10 min
2016 insecure, season 1, episode 2, hbo, 28 min
2016 ackee & saltfish, bbc comedy feed, bbc three, 20 mi
2017 the ancestors came, tate modern, short film, colour, digital, single channel, 6 min
2017 atonement, film collage, colour, digital, single channel, 7.37 min
2018 an entirely sincere, comprehensive and essential step-by-step guide to creating a film: the black london edition, short film, experimental, colour, digital, single channel, 3.43 min
2018 in the long run, season 1, episode 5, sky, 30 min
2018 in the long run, season 1, episode 6, sky, 30 min
2020 herenowthenwhat, film collage, colour, digital, single channel, 17.19 min
2020 hey babe, longtime let me know when you’re free to catch up soon, film collage, colour, digital, six channel, 24.35 min, designed to play on loop
2020 deathwalk, film collage, b&w + colour, digital, two channel, 12 min
2021 black (british?) metaphysics: exquisite corpses & heavenly bodies, vr trailer, colour, digital, 0.56 min
2021 byerachel, film collage, colour, digital, single channel, 117.24 min
2023 samegaad, film collage, colour, digital, single channel, 5.47 min
2023 there are other ways of seeing, cine rediscovered commission, film collage, colour, digital, single channel, 2.06 min
2024 walk on water, film collage, colour, digital, single channel, 10.23 min

presentations
2024 the tenth salon, peter street station
2024 wip, waterstreet projects x alfredas cinema
2024 ten years: celebration & retrospective, ny anthology film archives
2024 ten years: celebration & retrospective, genesis cinema
2024 african diaspora consortium, new orleans
2023 tottenham literature festival, bernie grants art centre
2023 maison européenne de la photographie
2023 rich mix, short london film festival
2021 metrograph, kindred
2021 now gallery, citizens of everywhere
2021 the showroom, the vov, collective intimacy
2021 metrograph, artists on camera
2020 no direct flight film festival, nairobi
2020 civic square, visions for the future
2019 the showroom, collective intimacy at prada mode
2019 british film institute, no direct flight
2019 brooklyn academy of music, we can’t even
2019 brooklyn academy of music, on resentment
2019 project row houses, black radical imagination: fugitive trajectories
2019 miller Institute for contemporary art pittsburgh, black radical imagination: fugitive trajectories
2018 ann arbour film festival, black radical imagination: fugitive trajectorie
2018 institute of contemporary arts boston, black radical imagination: fugitive trajectories
2018 british film institute, testaments
2018 smithsonian african american film festival, black radical imagination: fugitive trajectories
2018 museum of contemporary art chicago, black radical imagination: fugitive trajectories
2018 institute of contemporary arts london, lssf: new shorts
2017 tate modern, soul of a nation
2017 bozar brussels, afropolitan festival
2017 british film institute, unbound
2017 agora rollberg berlin, berlin feminist film week
2017 institute of contemporary arts london, new transmissions, new pathways
2017 the london short film festival
2016 keynote, university of toronto scarborough
2016 keynote, woc europe conference, university of edinburgh
2016 the national gallery of jamaica, digital
2016 black star film festival
2015 ucl, institute of education, decolonising film
2015 southbank centre london, strive festival
2015 southbank centre london, africa utopia
2015 southbank centre london, changing britain

press
new york times
the new yorker
the washington post
arts.black
the financial times
the guardian
tribeca film festival
bbc
shadow & act
bfi
vice
i-D
fader
nylon
dazed
dazed print
mashable
ebony
shadow & act
okay africa
bitch media
madame le figarou
buzzfeed
for harriet
man repeller
kobini
madame noire
afropunk
afropean
okayafrica
the hairpin
no gloss film festival
afropean
the body narratives

film jury
2020 africa in motion film festival, jury
2018 open city documentary festival, jury
2018 film africa, jury

honours
2020 bfi network x bafta crew mentoring
2015 broadcast hotshot
2015 screennation vanguard award

print
2020 september issue, harpers bazaar us
2016 january issue, sight & sound magazine
2015 spring/summer issue, dazed